Nathan

Check this book out. Imagine our lead girl at work is Bush. Selma is Cheney.

>>>Thank you to Former Manager/Coworker Tony for the astute observation that we are similar to the White House. You may be going full circle now with, Customer Relations (our new new group name), but you numero uno in my book buddy.

Just about to eat a frozen pizza, but wanted to write in about how this might be a good day. Far be it from me to wish anyone ill, but damn if things haven't gotten real fucked up lately. I guess it helps me to blame someone for it and I think I rightly blame Rove and co. for how screwed up our economy is and also how it seems okay now to lie and how it almost seems okay to be an asshole, cause after all, our 'leaders' are doing it. Then again, maybe it ain't their fault and I am over reacting... but let's take them out of office and check.

But you know what? It could be a bad day too. Just got put under Selma today at work. You would not believe this 'dragon lady' (co-workers name, not mine, but I like). She is almost universally despised and in fact was the genesis of that subject line code shit I wrote about earlier. Real professional, driven thinker. I think she thinks if she just goes fast enough and says shit forceful enough everything will work out. Will it? We will have to see.

Quote, 'We will not be contacting customers who are in the sales cycle.'

Room, 'Huh?'

Classic exchange. I hope that it only gets better from here. Have a fucking good weekend peoples. Big up to my irie crew.

It may seem like a joke or a Dilbert comic strip (or maybe it does just to me), but this is completely real and was sent to me today. Only names have been altered. Look for my comments by the ****


This is the first in a series of regular updates for team members. These updates will provide you with the latest information on systems, processes, and policies relevant to our global team.

Please click here if your email client is not displaying the Update attachment.



28-Jan-2004


Travel Requests New!
Effective immediately, all travel requests for team members must be
submitted at least 14 days in advance using this new Travel Request Web
Template. Includes links to current approved T&E policies for each region.
Supplies Request New!
Also effective immediately, all U.S. requests for office supplies must be
submitted using this new Office Supplies Web Template. This will help us
consolidate orders and reduce costs.

*****Our 'leadership' is worried about pencils and pens and how we procure them. Eeeegad.

Email Guidelines New!
Inbox overflowing? Over quota, and it's only Monday? Your fellow team
members are all in the same boat. Use these new Email Guidelines to help
everyone cut through the spam & focus on the emails that matter.

*****Just wanted to give you a quick breakdown here. I am sure you are all familiar with how moderators run newsgroups and the like (mark Subject lines with 'Personal', 'Job Opportunity', etc.), well our 'leadership' is looking to have us do this sort of marking with emails among the team. Just to recap: they blew up our whole previous group and have given us no real direction nor really in fact have communicated with us, but are concerning themselves with subject line codes.

Email Signatures How-To New!
Help create a consistent look and feel for emails, both inside and
outside of &*#$%. Use these Signature File Set Up Instructions for
Netscape and Outlook email clients.
Files Workspace New!
Use the new Team Workspace to collaborate on all of
your work-in-progress. Final, approved documents will be published to our
Area.

The slog continues. An amazing story with implications far beyond the courtroom. The heart of this issue points directly to the integrity and general manner of our Supreme court appointed white house residents. This is about how they are as people. As they are as Americans.

"I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from
distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little
minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience
approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death."

Thomas Paine
1737-1809, Political Theorist and Writer

Tbogg pointed me to this review of the speech last night. I want to elaborate on the review and talk about the speech.

I couldn't watch it. Bush started with his war chants at one point and Rumsfield sat there smiling (sneering?) and I honestly wanted to puke, fart, cry and yell all at once. Did anyone else see the devil in their eyes at this point? Honestly. I was watching this thing and really in my minds eye it was simply demons talking, laughing, chuckling about war and death and destruction in one of the most hallowed places in our country. Yikes. I really hope that people educate themselves and realize that these residents in office do not care about really anything except perhaps money, greed, deception and all those other devilish things they do. It seems to light their fire to send our young men and women across the world to kill or be killed... Rummy: they got viagra for that now. Mr. President Bush: I understand you do not have a bone of introspection in your body and that, unfortunately, combined with this you don't really think about the future that well (i.e. you invaded a third world nation and simply had no plan for how you were going to deal with the poor snot nosed kid you just bullied), but let me tell you you may be sinking your whole family forever. The history books, and I guarentee (did I spell that right?) it, will not treat you or this period in America's history kindly. Trust me, I have a minor in history. The Gipper sir, you are not. War is not football (hint: people die during wars). No need to mention 'war' 10+ in your speech. Understood, you like war. Hope you understand, people don't like you and corporations don't count... they are not people and are simply using you.

'After the World Trade Center was first attacked in 1993, some of the guilty were indicted and tried and convicted, and sent to prison. But the matter was not settled. The terrorists were still training and plotting in other nations, and drawing up more ambitious plans. After the chaos and carnage of September the 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers. The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got. (Applause.)'

Through the looking glass: 'After a bomb was planted at the World Trade Center in 1993 we probably should have changed some of our policies towards other nations as it was a warning sign. Instead, as Americans, we treated those who committed this act with our legal system, which was not wrong, but unfortunately the matter was not settled as we were not listening to those people who were doing harm to us for a reason. So those folks that we did not get in jail ended up figuring out that we would only listen if they did a spectacular attack. So they attacked us on September 11, which unfortunately our government probably knew about, but did nothing about and are now not helping with an investigation into this terrible tragedy, to send the message again and ask without asking, 'Are you listening now?' We responded no, we will not listen to you. We are going to bomb you and give you no protection under the laws and legal system in which our country has rested for 200+ years. We do not listen even to our own people, look at Columbine, look at McVeigh, why would we listen to you?' APPLAUSE ME YOU FUCKS.

Interrogation.

'I met Koubi at his home on the beach in Ashkelon, just a short drive north of the border with the Gaza Strip, in whose prisons he worked for much of his career. He is comfortably retired from his Shabak job now, a grandfather three times over, and works for the municipal Inspection and Sanitation Department. There are still many things he is not free to discuss, but he is happy to talk about his methods. He is very proud of his skills, among them an ability to speak Arabic so fluently that he can adopt a multitude of colloquial flavors. Koubi came to his career as an interrogator through his love of language. He grew up speaking Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic, and he studied Arabic in high school, working to master its idiom and slang. He also had a knack for reading the body language and facial expressions of his subjects, and for sensing a lie. He is a skilled actor who could alternately befriend or intimidate a subject, sometimes turning on a dime. Blending these skills with the tricks he had learned over the years for manipulating people, Koubi didn't just question his subjects, he orchestrated their emotional surrender.'

I just had the opportunity to read this. Very sad. I hope the mess that our country has made can somehow quickly be fixed and this great land that they call Iraq can have some years of healing. They deserve it and we keep going after them with our war machine. For what? Oh, yes. I have an idea for you Mr. President or you, Mr. Future President: announce that you are not interested in the moon or Mars until things are fixed here in America, here on our globe. Fix them by finding a renewable energy source for everyone and a way to express the limits of our planet plainly, so that we may all contribute. Please do not spend your time trying to sell Iraqi Dinars and undermine a great people. I am sorry Raed, I hope that we do better for you real soon.

My friend the late Carl Sagan, whose idea it was to take this picture of the Earth, said this:
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know. Everyone you ever heard of, ever y human being who ever WAS lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering , thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds , Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light…

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand…

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

We shall overcome, we shall overcome,
We shall overcome someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday.

The Lord will see us through, The Lord will see us through,
The Lord will see us through someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday.

We're on to victory, We're on to victory,
We're on to victory someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We're on to victory someday.

We'll walk hand in hand, we'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We'll walk hand in hand someday.

We are not afraid, we are not afraid,
We are not afraid today;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We are not afraid today.

The truth shall make us free, the truth shall make us free,
The truth shall make us free someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
The truth shall make us free someday.

We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall live in peace someday.

There are times... when you'll need someone...
I will be by your side...
There is a light, that shines,
Special for you, and me...

I never knew a luh, luh - luh, a love like this
Gotta be somethin for me to write this
Queen, I ain't seen you in a minute
Wrote this letter, and finally decide to send it
Signed sealed delivered for us to grow together
Love has no limit, let's spend it slow forever
I know your heart is weathered by what studs did to you
I ain't gon' assault em cause I probably did it too
Because of you, feelings I handle with care
Some niggaz recognize the light but they can't handle the glare
You know I ain't the type to walk around with matchin shirts
If relationship is effort I will match your work
I wanna be the one to make you happiest, it hurts you the most
They say the end is near, it's important that we close...
... to the most, high
Regardless of what happen on him let's rely

(Chorus)

Yo, yo, check it
It's important, we communicate
And tune the fate of this union, to the right pitch
I never call you my bitch or even my boo
There's so much in a name and so much more in you
Few understand the union of woman and man
And sex and a tingle is where they assume that it land
But that's fly by night for you and the sky I write
For in these cold Chi night's moon, you my light
If heaven had a height, you would be that tall
Ghetto to coffee shop, through you I see that all
Let's stick to understandin and we won't fall
For better or worse times, I hope to me you call
So I pray everyday more than anything
Friends will stay as we begin to lay
This foundation for a family - love ain't simple
Why can't it be anything worth having you work at annually
Granted we known each other for some time
It don't take a whole day to recognize sunshine

(Chorus)

Yeah... yo, yo, check it
It's kinda fresh you listen to more than hip - hop
And I can catch you in the mix from beauty to thrift shop
Plus you ship hop when it's time to, thinkin you fresh
Suggestin beats I should rhyme to
At times when I'm lost I try to find you
You know to give me space when it's time to
My heart's dictionary defines you, it's love and happiness
Truthfully it's hard tryin to practice abstinence
The time we committed love it was real good
Had to be for me to arrive and it still feel good
I know the sex ain't gon' keep you, but as my equal
It's how I must treat you
As my reflection in light I'ma lead you
And whatever's right, I'ma feed you
Digga - da, digga - da, digga - da, digga - digga - da - da
Yo I tell you the rest when I see you, peace

Hello and welcome. Just wanted to write in real quick before I go play Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers (awesome game by the way). I still have a few things I need to unlock on it :) God, I love still being a kid in my mind.

Anyway, wanted to write in to talk about what a great day it was yesterday. I think (hope) that I might be changing jobs soon to work with a great customer nearby my house (high tech hardware customer). It cannot come fast enough because while I think the aims that we are headed towards at corporate are good, I really think we are going about some things in a backwards way. Not to bore you with the details, but the message I have been trying to get across is, satisfaction starts in the field... it does not start at corporate. Are you getting any of this? Suffice it to say I do not think my current group is going to be successful, at least in the short term.

Also yesterday the president of our company responded to an email I sent him and seemed to respond pretty positively. It is a good feeling.

On another note, went snowboarding for the first time this weekend. I really do not understand the whole skiing vs. snowboarding thing going on as damn if they don't seem real similar to me. I guess it is just human nature to find some sort of difference and dwell on it, fuck if I know. Gotta make the decision soon though: whether to buy a new set of skis or go with a board... pretty hard decision at this point mainly cause the boots are so much more comfortable on the board.

All right y'all. Peace out. Make love.

"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."

Tupac Shakur

I am no longer independant.

One thing I have been thinking about quite a bit recently is: where has the leadership gone? Our country doesn't seem to have great leadership. Seems we just had another 35 amazing men and women injured today. This from today... I obviously could go on.

And my company has even worse leadership. I can't even express how bad. To me, it seems simple: communicating, listening and making decisions. Is it more complicated? I imagine you could add, 'have a human touch'. But beyond that it seems like one of the easier jobs at a company, that is being a manager. Well, from almost the top down my company seems to screw it up.

On the bright side I am drinking a Bass Pale Ale right now. Those English know how to make a beer. No offence to Anchor though. Butta.

This shit is interesting, kinda been trying to follow it, but really no info is coming through about it. I'll also admit, I like reading about the Prez's daughters smoking pot.

out

Random thought day:

Dollar is falling. What does this mean? It seems... bad? No wait, good!? Fuck, I have no idea. I will tell you though my coworker in Europe is getting killed by it. Company sent him over there, but for some reason is continuing to pay him in dollars so not only did his pay not go up (as things are more expensive where he is), but now are in fact going down day by day.

We made it to Mars. Holy shit. I really am amazed with this especially after seeing on the NewsHour last night how it was all done. Incredible. One part that me and the house found a little BS about the report though was that this dude from JPL was talking about how it was just as complex 'unfurling' the rover as it was to land it on the planet. Um, seems a little hard to believe after seeing the grafix, but shit, what do I know? Point is, great job JPL... great job indeed. Counterpoint: $400 mil to see some red rocks.

When your company has made you spend hours upon hours doing something that almost immediately was scrapped afterwards do you return the money they paid you? Should you?

When you get someone to admit fault and take responsibility, but they do it completely half heartedly and without really believing anything they are saying to you, what do you do? Seriously. email me at nathanbut6332@hotmail.com

Peace out y'all.