adamyntium

Category: society

  • How to evaluate your current job & career… and thoughtfully consider future options

    I’m doing the whole job-hunting thing again… searching for interesting contracts (I luckily am still blessed with several cool ongoing ones!) or a really smashing full-time opportunity. The latter option in particular has gotten me to do some deep soul searching about career / relocation criteria, and I thought I’d share a list I’ve been compiling.

    Your feedback is VERY welcome! Any major missing categories / criteria, or some that should absolutely be split up or combined?

    * * *

    Oh, and I’m such a geek, that I’m thinking about making an Excel sheet out of the criteria list below, along with spots for optionally specifying item weights and having the sheet calculate optimal choices… e.g., you could specify that you especially care about being mentored and getting free food, and the spreadsheet would give more weight to jobs that offered those things.

    Ideally, this list could be used to help one determine if they should stick with their current job or transition to a new one (with the same or a different company)… and also assist people who are unemployed and evaluating new opportunities.

    So without further ado, here is my list (and yes, I realize there are parallelism — or rather, lack of parallelism issues — but this is just a first draft… I’ll smooth over that later 🙂

    1) The industry (e.g., pharmaceutical, digital photography, pro sports)

    • Alignment with your interests and passions
    • Awareness / experience (how strong is your past history in this space?)
    • Future (weak or strong demand for this area in the years to come)
    • Perception of current and future HR folks & hiring managers (how association with this industry looks on your resume)
    • Perception of others (what family, peers think of the industry and your association with it)

    2) Position type (Product Manager, Software Engineer…)

    • Enjoyment (do you like working in this sort of position?)
    • Personality and skills fit (can you cut the mustard?)
    • Perception of current and future HR folks & hiring managers
    • Perception of others

    3) Basics about the company and company site

    • Company reputation, products, and positioning
      • Products and services (is it stuff you feel passionate about or disconnected from?)
      • Perception of current and future HR folks & hiring managers
      • Perception of others
      • Alignment with personal morals (e.g., donates a lot to charity, possibly
        not a cigarette company, etc.)
    • Physical atmosphere
      • Conduciveness to concentration (quiet, not too quiet, etc.)
      • Office surroundings (plants, decorations…)
      • Immediate work space (privacy, ergonomics…)
      • Resources available (modern computers, enough pens, etc.)
    • Overall feel
      • Size (startup vs. BigCo)
      • Morale
      • Socialness (fun atmosphere daily, special parties…)
      • Excitement (cutting edge sector or boring)
      • Pacing (relaxing, stressful)
      • Department / position fluidity (can you easily move amongst departments, job types?)
      • Security (company — and your position — will be around in 5 years)
    • Your department or immediate team
      • Your relative placement (big fish in little pond or the reverse…)
      • Your department’s placement (revered or shunned in company with regards to resources, opinions, etc.)
      • Size
      • Morale
      • Socialness
      • Pacing

    4) People

    • In general
      • Personal attributes (smart, friendly, interesting, helpful, thoughtful…)
      • Work habits (hard working, sane…)
    • Direct contacts
      • Boss (communicative, has reasonable expectations, smart, thoughtful)
      • Subordinates (respect you, do work effectively, enjoyable to work with)
      • Department / team members (respect you, pull their weight, good to work with)
    • Leadership, your position, and autonomy
      • Opportunities to be mentored
      • Opportunities to mentor
      • Hierarchy (flat, deep)
      • Responsibility and autonomy (highly structured task list and oversight vs. high levels of responsibility and autonomy)

    5) Your actual work assignments and available / required tasks

    • Short term / current value (satisfaction, joy derived from them)
    • Future value (good or useless for career)
    • Stimulation (intellectually or emotionally challenging)
    • Corporate relevance (your work measurably contributes to company’s bottom line or company’s visible
      presence)
    • Perception of current and future HR folks / hiring managers
    • Perception of others (what family, peers think of the industry and your association with it)
    • Travel required (little, lots, to cool places, horrible places, stressful, enjoyable, etc.) 

    6) Benefits

    • Compensation package
      • Upon start (signing bonus, moving allowance)
      • Salary and bonuses
      • Stock and stock options
      • Vacation and personal days
    • Other direct benefits
      • Free or discounted access to desired services / products
      • Good health insurance, other types of insurance
      • Education and training (on site / external)
      • Substantive discounts on commuting
    • On-site benefits
      • Cafeteria (pricing, food quality, quantity, nutrition, hours…)
      • Utilitarian offerings (car wash, laundry…)
      • Health-related (dentist, doctor on staff, gym, nutritionist…)
      • Daycare

    * * *

    P.S. — A special thanks to my friend Kelly for providing such a thoughtful sounding board and suggesting many of the items above!

  • A Frustrated Hottie, a Temporary Satan Worshipper, and an Apparent Nympho

    Just a little bit of lightness for this morning 🙂

    I’ve taken dance lessons from this one very talented instructor, and I was a bit taken aback upon noting that her nickname in dance forums is “Hottie.” Though she’s certainly quite blessed in the looks department, I found this to be a rather odd choice of nicknames… possibly even bordering on conceited.

    Then one day she explained it all to me.

    After moving from Oklahoma to St. Louis she found that some very important people — namely the folks who take pizza orders over the phone — were having a bit of trouble understanding her.

    PIZZA GUY: And your name, ma’am?
    HOTTIE: Haaaawdy.
    PIZZA GUY: Hottie?!
    HOTTIE: No! Haaaaahhhhhdy! H-E…
    PIZZA GUY: Um, yeah, okay, whatever. Be there in 30 minutes.

    It never failed. She’d get a pizza delivered to “Hottie,” not “Heidi” despite her valiant but misunderstood efforts to communicate her name with her endearing southern accent. And so, after much teasing from her pizza-sharing friends, the nickname stuck.

    * * *

    This one fellow — let’s call him Paul — is a rather tolerant and friendly guy as well as an outstanding scientist. But he was finally reaching the end of his patience after fending off a practically non-stop barrage of prosletyzing Jehovah Witnesses and similar folks knocking at his door. Apparently, “Thank you, but I’m not interested. Kindly don’t disturb me again” was simply not very efficacious.

    So Paul decided to follow the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” mantra… or at least join them over coffee. Therefore, in an attempt to finally talk some sense into the evolution-deniers, he invited the next pair of suit-clad bible-bringers into his living room and offered them some coffee. They chatted together amiably… and Paul felt he was making some headway. Then he got to the existence of fossils.

    “So how do you explain fossils?” he asked, with a twinkle in his eye. Ah, he had them now!

    “That’s easy” one of the guys responded quickly and with utter seriousness, “The Devil put them there to confuse us!”

    That’s when Paul realized it was all a moderately entertaining but ultimately hopeless waste of his time. But it wasn’t all for naught: he also got a brilliant idea!

    A week or two later, when yet another pair of Jehovah Witnesses came a knockin’, Paul was prepared. He answered the door, cackling the best evil and menacing laugh he could manage, and hissed: “Come on in! I’m a Saaaaatan Worshipper!”

    His girlfriend, just a few feet behind him, was initially shocked but upon seeing the petrified faces of the missionaries could barely keep from busting out laughing. The speed with which those two guys mounted their bikes and zoomed away can only be compared to something out of a Roadrunner cartoon. And lo and behold, it was nearly a year until a pair of their comrades dared to come knocking again.

    * * *

    I was telling this story to my friend Lana… a sweet, generally quiet woman. But, as her story bears out, sometimes it’s the meek ones you most have to watch out for!

    She, too, was having a similar problem with prosletyzers bugging her regularly, despite her polite requests to go away and not come back. The last time (and so far, indeed it HAS been the last time) a pair of them stopped by her place, she opened the door and invited them to come in and shower with her. Apparently, a fear of hot nekkid chicks is about as deeply ingrained as a fear of satan worshippers… and so those fellas high-tailed it out of there pretty lickety-split after turning ashen and stammering an “um… thank you… gotta go!!!”

    Of course, after telling me this story, Lana attempted to demurely backpedal a bit. She was, she insists, in a rush to head out to meet a friend and was just about to head into the shower when she heard a knock at the door. So apparently her FULL protestation was something along the lines of: “Aaaah! I’m really in a rush and… um… well, I’m about to take a shower.” The guys didn’t move. They’re trained, clearly, not to take excuses. Exasperated, Lana said the next thing that popped into her harried mind: “Fine, um, I guess you could come in and join me.” As noted above, THAT got them to move. Quickly.

    I asked her, of course, what she would have done had they accepted. That’s when she gave me this look that basically translates into “ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!” and so I grabbed my Bible, got on my bike, and pedaled away as fast as I could…

  • Comparing Manhattan against San Francisco

    A couple of weeks ago I spent 24 hours in New York City.

    It wasn’t my first time, but this whirlwind visit gave me a chance to refine or solidify lots of my opinions about the Big Apple, especially in the context of my new familiarity with San Francisco.

    FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD (on every corner!)
    First, there are the street food carts. In Manhattan, you can buy gyros, fresh fruit, fajitas, hot dogs, bagels, and tons of other carb-laden delights ranging from health to heart-attack-on-a-stick.

    But you know what? In my unscientific sampling, I found all the selections to be both yummy AND cheap. Try finding THAT in San Francisco. In fact, try finding food carts at all in the city. Okay, maybe one or two selling lousy pretzels around the Wharf (ack!), but why can’t we grab a tasty gyro after clubbing on a Friday night or during a fast lunch break in the Financial District? In a liberal city like ours, are our supervisors so damn uptight that they’ve restricted such entrepreneurial potential ventures from competing with our overpriced and oft-slow restaurants?

    TRANSPORTATION THE WAY IT SHOULD BE
    In New York, there seems to be about one taxi for every three people. In SF, there are about three taxis for every one hundred thousand people. Basically, if you don’t have your SF hotel hail you a cab, you’re gonna be walkin’ mister. And you may be walkin’ anyway, since the cabs around here seem to subscribe to the wacky notion that they’re doing US a favor by actually coming to pick us up sometime in the next four hours.

    And of course, there’s the inevitable comparison of public transit. NY subway: seemingly 50+ stops, many open late night. SF subway (BART): about 7 stops in the city, all closed by midnight. WTF is up with that? And on holidays, it’s even worse. I flew back into the San Francisco Airport at 11pm on Labor Day… and I had to have my roomie pick me up because public transit stopped running at 10pm. What, the transit agency figured no one would be coming back late after a long weekend? Idiots.

    OTHER RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
    People watching seems more fun in New York. Sure, in SF we have the weirdos in the Haight, but that only supplies entertainment for so long. You’ve seen one ugly dude with 17 piercings begging for money for his 18th piercing, you’ve seen ’em all. In New York, downtown seems vibrant in a way that I’m not accustomed to experiencing… people from every ethnicity. Folks in suits, peeps in jogging outfits, students, tourists, yeah, lots of tourists.

    And contrary to conventional wisdom, people in NY are no more unfriendly than folks in any other big city. In fact, in my experience, I’ve found them to be more friendly than folks in most other major cities I’ve visited. I struck up quite a lot of fun conversations with random street vendors, lunch-eaters, pretty much with everyone except for the uber-snooty employees at the Hilton hotel I stayed at.

    In fact, I could write a whole entry on that lousy place (and indeed, someday may), but let me just cut right to the chase: Think twice before staying there. Ugly-ass rooms, surly help, and nickel-and-diming for every fricking thing under the sun. When you’re paying that kind of money for a room (okay, so I was a cheap bastard and got a deal via priceline, but still), you don’t expect to be charged $1.50 for a 1 minute local call, $20 for Internet access, and $5.95 for half a grapefruit?! Granted, I wasn’t stupid enough to actually order any of this stuff, but still…

    But I digress.

    What’s not to like about NY? The weather! Oh my God, I felt like I was in a city-wide sauna without the ability to take a cold shower or jump in an icy lake every 5 minutes as needed. The atmosphere reminded me of a slightly-lighter Dark City, even at 3pm. Dank, oppressive, dim.

    86 degrees with, apparently, 100% humidity. 100% humidity. How is that different than rain, you ask? Well, rain generally falls downwards. 100% humidity sans rain, however, is like being next to a fog machine. In an oven. But with non-oven’y smells.

    Indeed, NY smells. And not so good. A mixture of sweat, tar, dust, and other icky stuff. The city is dirty, dusty, loud, chaotic, and — in Times Square — very unattractively and obnoxiously blinkingly garish.

    But luckily, everyone and everything moves so fast that you’re never stuck with the same flashing neon or bad smells for very long. Part of this, I figure, is due to all the signs that say “No Standing” every few feet throughout the city. I eventually figured out that those wacky sign-makers meant “No Parking” but enough of us tourists were encouraged to hustle and bustle that the fluidity of the city was augmented by a measurable amount, no doubt.

    * * *

    Alas, I lost my camera midway through my trip, so I don’t have any captivating photos from this trip to break up this long and quasi-boring text. But you’re in luck. I have a few dozen photos from my 2000 NYC trip, which actually lasted for more than a day and included much merriment and photographing.

    Enjoy. Savor. Comment upon.

    And then rip into my commentary, pontificating upon how I got all the details wrong and how I don’t appreciate my fine city or how I’ve insulted NYC or how I should go back to timbuktu or whatnot. Go on, I can take it.

  • Intuition confirmed: Homophobia, SUV purchases linked to wee willies

    In research that shouldn’t be a great surprise to anyone, a recent Cornell University study has shown that men who felt more insecure about their masculinity were “more likely to support the war in Iraq, more likely to oppose gay marriage and denounce gays, and more likely to express a desire to buy an SUV.” [Source: The Week magazine, August 26, 2005, page 21; see related articles]

    Clearly, the converse must be true, too: we men who are gay-friendly, against the war, and unlikely to buy SUVs must have really big… uh… IQs 🙂

    Interestingly, no theories were offered as to why so many women buy SUVs, but I’m guessing it’s the typically “I feel big and safe!” crap playing a role in those purchases.

    With that said, sincere apologies to my friend E and others reading this who actually have purchased SUVs due to the car’s functional qualifications (e.g., people who are actually avid campers and other folks who genuinely use the carrying capacity of SUVs).

    And, though it should go without saying, I hope everyone realizes that Anti-War does not (or, at least IMNSHO, SHOULD not) ever imply animosity towards the brave military men and women who serve and have served our country. They’re not the ones who got us into this mess in Iraq; the blame for that squarely rests on selfish, deluded old white men who never served and whose kids will never serve.

    No apologies to anyone who is anti-gay or opposed to gay marriage, however. While we’re all entitled to our opinions, I don’t have to respect yours in this context :-).

  • Why (some) law firms and lawyers annoy me

    Disclaimer: I have a law degree, but — for a variety of reasons — decided not to practice law even before I attended law school. Long story 😀

    —

    So yesterday I received an e-mail with the following boilerplate as the sig:

    This E-mail message is private and confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. All emails sent by me remain my property. You must obtain written permission to forward in part or whole any message, data contained within, MX and other header information. Doing so without my written permission constitutes an agreement between me, you and the party you forwarded the information to pay me a sum of no less than $5000. This is a legally enforceable contract between me, you, and the party to whom you forwarded the information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying, reproduction, modification, or publication of this communication is illegal and prohibited by law. Please delete the message from your computer and destroy any copies. This message is not intended to be relied upon by any person without subsequent written confirmation of its contents. The sender therefore disclaims all responsibility and accepts no liability of any kind that may arise from any person acting, or refraining from acting, upon the contents of the message without having had subsequent written confirmation. If you have received this message in error, please contact me at the following number:

    [REALLY large font]Moron, Idiot & Associates Inc.[/font]

    Url: www.moron-idiot.com

    Office: 555-555-5555

    E-fax: 555-555-5555

    E-Mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

    Moron Idiot & Associates Inc.

    Bad enough as it is, but — here’s the clincher: it was sent to a discussion group that I moderate! I politely told the person that:

    1) The mere size of his sig was discourteous to list members.
    2) Beyond that, it was the biggest bunch of bovine excrement (not to mention unenforceable nonsense) I had ever seen in a sig, and that was saying a lot.

    He wrote back angrily with the following:
    1) Was I trying to dictate what sigs were and were not allowed in this group? How dare I!
    2) In today’s society, not enough people respect intellectual property, dammit, and he was doing his part to change that!
    3) Okay, so maybe it didn’t form an enforceable contract [you don’t say!], but it was the principle of the matter, and hopefully it’d serve as a deterrent from evil people forwarding his e-mails to others.
    4) His LAWYER FRIEND specifically wrote it up for him, and she knew what she was doing!
    5) Had I passed the Bar, or was I illegally practicing law by commenting on his sig?

    * * *

    Is there a more potently annoying combination than a stupid lawyer and her gullible friend? Or, if I may wax conspiratorially, perhaps she secretly loathed the fella and decided to have a little fun with him?

    And seriously, people, why *DO* so many law firms (and other companies) add such drivel to their e-mails? I especially love it when friends at these loser organizations send me a one-line reply like, “Sure, 7pm for drinks sounds great!” followed by 37 lines of balderdash. Can’t they at least selectively turn the dodo-sig on and off?

    Do any of these companies actually think:
    1) These “contracts” are enforceable (without consideration much less consent)?!
    2) That evildoers will think twice about forwarding juicy e-mailed tidbits just because of a stupid toothless sig?
    3) That there aren’t dozens or hundreds of people who think their firms are complete twits for crufting up folks’ e-boxes with such assinine bloviations?

    When will these ridiculous sigs die a well-deserved death? And what can you and I do to hasten the matter?

    * * *

    And while we’re on the topic of other lawyer-related-annoyances…

    Why do people still use “Attorney at Law” in promotional literature, yellowpages ads, etc.? Yes, yes, I vaguely recall the historical significance of such a label, but really, do we have Attorneys at Plumbing or Attorneys at Yodeling nowadays? Wouldn’t “Attorney” or “Lawyer” suffice?

    Also, why do law firms (and, admittedly many other professional firms) insist on using their partners’ names as the company name, e.g., “The Law Offices of Fredericks, Hollywood, and Vine”? What else should they call their law firm? Hell, I don’t know, and I don’t care, but the current convention just smacks of oft-difficult-to-spell pomposity to me. One might protest that, well, how might one distinguish the many law firms in a given city from one another, and I’d say, hell, there are 1,179 Chinese Restaurants within 20 blocks of my apartment, and they seem to manage. Accenture isn’t someone’s last name, and they don’t seem to be doing appreciably worse than the Delighted Tushes and Poop Wiserhouses of the world. And wouldn’t the world (or at least the courtroom) be a bit more charming if folks were represented by attorneys from the “Happy Law and Doughnuts” firm, or “Lucky Rabbit Foot” law firm or “Fire Dragon Boat” law firm?

    Don’t get me wrong. I like lawyers overall. I eat and dance with many of them and one day I’m sure at least one will save my sorry ass (unless, of course, he or she has read this blog entry, in which case they/’ll likely just throw me to the wolves). But the institution of law itself is, IMNSHO, in ripe need of reform, and not just the sort of chocolate tort reform our congresscritters (themselves, the worst sort of lawyers) are busy shoving in each others’ faces.

    * * *

    Oh, if the nitwit who posted the above sig file is reading this? Please feel free to sue me. I could use the extra publicity for my blog 🙂

  • No purchase necessary? What’s the social policy reasoning behind that?

    Okay, this may seem like one of my wacky entries, but I’m actually serious here:

    1) What’s the compelling public policy behind prohibiting companies from requiring purchases as part of a sweepstakes? In other words, why must companies always offer a “No Purchase Necesary” method for entering contests, such a submitting a postcard with one’s name and mailing address, yadda yadda.

    2) Have you or someone you know actually entered contests in this way?

    3) If so, have you or someone you know actually WON something in this context?

  • What do you do? (self = job?) And how are you?

    “So, uh, what do you do?”

    It’s amazing how often this is one of the first questions people ask you in an attempt to break the ice. Not “so what do you do for fun?” or “what makes you smile?” or “what excites you?” but “what do you do?” with the unspoken but very clear focus on “…for your job?”

    This seems to be more prevalent in America than elsewhere, and frankly I think it’s pretty stupid.

    Yes, we spend a lot of hours at work, so it’s an inextricable part of our lives. But is it (or at least, should it be) who we ARE?

    When I was unemployed, I practically dreaded meeting new people. It got to the point where I was almost ready to blurt out, “Hi, I’m Adam and I’m unemployed. And I don’t care what you do. So can we talk about something other than jobs, please?”

    * * *

    Adding to the confusion, even when I was unemployed, I was still making quite enough money from odd consulting gigs and affiliate/ad income from my sites to make ends meet. So I wasn’t exactly broke and unemployed, but it was too complicated to explain exactly what I did.

    Nowadays, it’s no better. I manage a huge AdWords account for a Canadian Telecom company, I help manage and design Customer Communications for a startup, and I’m designing an online community for an online music company. All at the same time. Yes, it’s a lot of work. Yes, it’s actually pretty rewarding and interesting stuff. And yes, it’s a pain in the ass to mention all three gigs when people ask “What do you do?”

    So I started saying “I’m a consultant.” But of course, then I get one of several responses (either direct or implied):

    “Oh, so what kind of consulting?”
    “What consulting firm do you work for?”
    “Heh heh, so in other words, you’re unemployed, right?”

    Given my 60+ hour work weeks, the last one particularly annoys the heck out of me.

    * * *

    Sometimes I’m just silly about the whole thing. Twice, when asked what I do by a (hopefully unmarried!) female next to me on public transit, I responded with, “Flirt with hot women like you on Caltrain.”

    Luckily, I did not get slapped. I also did not get any e-mail address or phone number (then again, I didn’t ask). One of the women was particularly amused. The other gave a look that was a cross between “you weirdo!” and “um…. righteo then.”

    * * *

    Okay, so what’s the solution here? How ’bout we come up with more holistic questions? Personally, I’d like “What are you passionate about?” because if anyone says either “Um, I love my work. That’s about it” or worse yet “Um… I don’t really have time for passions” then I know it’s time to pull out my portable music player and magazines and/or feign a sudden loss of hearing.

    Other possibilities for parties / commutes / networking events:

    “So what are you looking forward to this weekend or this summer?”
    “When you’re not at work or on this train, what do you do?”
    “What’s the most interesting place you’ve been?”
    “So, a Jew, a Pollock, and a black guy are on a plane…”

    Okay, so I’m kidding about the last one ;-).

    * * *

    And while I’m ranting about stupid or at least over-used questions, I’ll note that I’m no more fond of the whole rushed “How are you?” crap, either (though, yeah, I do it unconsciously anyway). Once again, this appears to be mostly an American idiocy, and just makes us seem even *MORE* superficial to the rest of the world. Because, let’s face it, except for your friends and family, no one really CARES how you’re doing at the moment, especially when their primary interest is typically getting you through the [grocery | tickets | whatever] line as quickly as possible.

    So who started this stupid custom and what the hell were they smoking? Why don’t we just say “Hi!” or “‘morning” or “Welcome” or even — here’s a radical idea — just smile?

    I swear, the next time someone — especially a surly someone — asks me at the checkstand how I’m doing, I’m going to answer thusly:

    “Well, my hemorrhoids are kinda acting up, and I think my third wife is cheating on me. But my heartburn’s been better lately. Thanks for asking! How about you, Mike?”

    Maybe if enough of us did this, we’d be able to collectively kick this stupid custom to the curb? Or at least we’d provide some entertaining or at least initially disarming charm to others’ lives for a wee bit, eh?

    Then again, I learned in undergrad that someone actually did a controlled experiment in this space. More than half the time when the tester responded with a 10-15 second atypical answer (e.g., something other than “Fine, thanks” or a nod), the checkout person CALLED A MANAGER OVER. I kidd you not. They were so taken aback that someone dared deviate from the usual comfortable scripted routine that they simply didn’t know what to do and they freaked out.

    So on second thought, at least if I want to get out with my frozen goodies unmelted, maybe I better just suck it up and go with the flow. But don’t we all savor just a little rebellion against pointless customs and habits?

    Or maybe it’s just me. Oh well. Have a nice day! 😉

  • Reeker madness and our society’s lenience towards drunk drivers

    So, apparently this rather dumb fella went to bail out his brother-in-law using money that reeked of marijuana.

    Long story short… the dispatcher suspected the guy was a-foul (smelling) of the law, the guy’s car was searched (with his consent), “a pipe and a small amount of marijuana was found” and now “he could face six months to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.”

    Brilliant!

    So here we have a guy who may be a bit dull around the edges, but is basically harmless, and he’s quite possibly about to be dinged as much as much as a quarter or more of his yearly salary or locked for a quarter of a year in prison, where we taxpayers will foot the bill for his food and medical care and such and he can learn how to become a hardened criminal.

    When on earth are we going to reform our completely assinine drug laws in this country?

    When are we actually going to seriously attack problems that matter, like homelessness, poverty, educational inequality, alcoholism, and drunk driving?

    * * *

    It’s the latter issue in particular that gets me. First, let me note up front that I’m relatively a prude: I’ve never tried drugs (including tobacco), and I rarely drink alcohol. But drugs and alcohol have touched my life deeply.

    A wonderful cousin of mine was ravage by drugs and — thankfully — was forcibly placed into rehab and is now doing great.

    Back in high school, when I ran a goofy and popular singing telegram business and charged a whopping $2.50 per in-school telegram, I remember this charming girl coming up to me, handing me cash and a note to give to her friend when my group sang, looking me in the eyes with a warm smile and asking, “So it’s a deal, right?”

    That Saturday, two days later, she was dead… broadsided by a speeding drunk driver. And I was asked by her parents to play piano for her funeral. Thursday was the first and last time I had ever talked with her, and only briefly at that, but she left a strong impression with me nonetheless. I truly believe that — combined with my own parents’ strong and smart guidance — this experience has caused me to be both immensely wary about driving after drinking and to feel very strongly about the issue of drunk driving in general.

    * * *

    I don’t know what punishment her killer received. But I do know, from many other reports I’ve read since and from what I’ve seen personally, that our country hardly takes drunk driving seriously. Instead, we choose to lock up people who smoke a bowl with friends or take away tens of thousands of dollars of their college scholarship money.

    How many people have been killed as a result of drinking alcohol?
    How many people (especially children exposed to second hand smoke) have been killed by cigarette smoking?

    And just how many people have been killed a result of marijuana smoking? I don’t know about you, but I sure haven’t seen any headlines. “Three teens killed by stoned driver.” Um, nope. “Stoned man goes on a shooting rampage.” Uh, no. “Eight Kentucky residents tragically die from a marijuana overdose.” No? Didn’t think so.

    For crissake, when is this country going to wise up? When will we start addressing real problems instead of chasing boogeyman and harming innocent people and their families? I just hope I live to see the day…

  • Happy Holidays!

    May your holidays and coming years be filled with good friends, warm times, and peace.

  • Hmm… I wonder if there’s any correlation here?


    […] [Cisco] paid $650,000 to book the rock legend, according to Web logger Robert Scoble. Cisco spokeswoman Abbey Smith would not discuss how much the company spent but said the expense was justified.

    “We wanted to recognize and thank our employees,” she said. “They have not received raises for the last four years.”

    – From a CNET article, detailing companies’ holiday parties this year.

    Though I couldn’t suppress a snicker given the quote above, I can’t say that I necessarily blame the company for choosing to have an extravagant holiday party. I don’t know how many folks Cisco has, but $650K might not have made that much of a life difference as bonuses spread across the employee base.

    Then again, I can certainly think of better ways *I* would rather see $650K spent. Daily snacks, anti-glare monitor shields, subsidized fitness classes or gym memberships, and so on… things that could help and/or at least appeal to a vast swath of employees on a regular basis, rather than just making a few folks smile’n’rock-out on a single night.