This is what I saw when I got home

Today was rather warm, and that's my best guess why I saw this upon entering my kitchen.

(In case you can't tell what's going on, the black line is an ant trail, coming from nowhere going to nowhere. The second picture is said ant trail heading up the wall.)

Any Vegetarians or vegans in San Diego?

Today I tried Sipz for the first time. Good stuff! Not even so much for the food, but just based on the fact that all the food is vegetarian/vegan.

By the way, I'm not a vegetarian, but I've been experimenting and am doing just fine without meat. (If you are in SD and have any veg recommendations please share)

Why is a good job so hard to find?

By good I mean in my chosen field of technology, but maybe with an interesting twist.

By good I mean semi-small and NOT in cubeville. Do companies that don't pose as copycats of Dilbert and Office Space exist? They don't seem to.

By good I mean a company that values its' employees. This means to provide a reasonable market salary AND time off AND some form of benefits. Employer will also have some level of understanding that you will not be dedicated to your job for 100% of your time. Time off is time off.

By good I mean fun, moral, and privately owned with a purpose. Not simply to crank out the max profit regardless of the pain incurred. I understand capitalism, but can't a job be about a little more than the bottom line?

Oh, and how about in San Diego too? Cause that's where it would really help me.

Thanks.

What if Hugo Chavez was a fetus?

http://www.preemptivekarma.com/archives/2005/08/what_if_hugo_ch.html

"We're emboldening the enemy"

OK. First of all, I understand that if you are wanting to appear strong as a country, the fact that one woman can create a movement that clearly exemplifies how divided the country is isn't desirable.

That said, if you are an Iraqi or you are a terrorist, which do you think would give you more reason to hate and fight back against America:

a) One woman showing that America isn't united in its fight against you

or

b) Thousands of American troops in your homeland waging war and killing innocent civilians and perhaps even you

I'd have to say that Cindy Sheehan's protest is the least of America's worries. I also think that it's about time that the world see that not all of America supports what is going on.

Stupid experts

I didn't think you needed to be a "diet expert" to understand that exercise helps people lose weight. See this

What the fuck?

Pat Robertson is all over the headlines because of his recent statement saying that the US should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Talking about Muslims in the past he has said that the Quran "incites followers to kill people of other faiths" and that "it's clear from the teachings of the Quran and also from the history of Islam that it's anything but peaceful."

Does he realize how fucking hypocritical he is? Talking about Muslims killing in the name of their faith, then he turns around and suggests killing a man because he's "bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism." I think this crazy conservative Christians are just as dangerous as Islamic extremists. When it comes down to it, they're all the same. They all want to kill the other.

Interesting thought

I never thought about this until right now. (If you don't want to hear me bitch and moan about work and lack of vacation you should stop here.)

So you get a good job, maybe you spend 4, 5, or 10 years there. Each year you get a raise, maybe you get a promotion. Likely your seniority allows you to earn more vacation as you get tenured. So then you say, "Hey, I've put my time in, I've got some experience under my belt, I'm going to find a new, fancy, shiny, better job!"

Good for you. So you go out and interview, and your title and your salary are your leverage, you are able to pull in a new job using your hard earned skills and your previous job as a stepping stone. But wait... All that hard earned vacation is, well, gone. Why doesn't your earned vacation count for anything? Say you were a lucky guy (or gal), and put 12 years in at a company. You went from a measly one week of paid time off and climbed up to a big four weeks! But at that new job, although your title transfers and your salary is matched or bettered, wave goodbye to your vacation.

Why?

An Overworked society?

I realize that I live in America, home to the overworked and chronically tired, but am I seriously the only one left who doesn't mind working, but at the same time wants time for myself?

I only ask because the last two jobs I've interviewed at offered minimal paid time off. The first offered no time off for the first six months, then a year after that. The second offered one measly week, and six holidays. That's freakin ridiculous! I turned the most recent job down based on that time off, along with a more commute more than double my current one. Note that I have a job currently so I can afford to be picky. My current job started me at two weeks, with ten holidays. For those that aren't good at math that's nine days more than the recent offer.

Am I crazy? Does this not get people mad? I understand the concept of work, but I also understand the concept of burnout. The most recent guy seemed surprised when I noted this as a major concern, and also said it had never come up before with any of the other employees. Who are these people who work and word and work, likely underpaid, with no notable reward.

Am I really asking for that much?

Decision made

Well although I have officially received a job offer, I think I will turn it down. The offer was for just a little bit more money than I am making now, however my commute would more than double and I would therefore spend the difference on gas. The biggest downside was one official week of paid time off. I am a firm believer in time off, and although there are things to be desired at my current job, I have paid my dues and will be collecting three weeks vacation next year, in addition to the remaining week I have for this year. Which means that in the time I would earn one week off at the "new job", I would have a little over 3 earned in the same time span staying here. So while that may not be thinking of my extreme distaste for sitting in a cubicle, I have to play the numbers. So I may still spend yet more time sitting in a cubicle in the future, but I will also have the time to get away from work in general. Also the "new job" would offer 6 holidays, as opposed to the 10 I get now. And a "minimum" 40 hour work week as opposed to my now "maybe close to 40 hour week." So sorry potential "new job", you didn't offer enough incentive to make me move.

A Fork In The Road

I've been semi-actively looking for a new job for a while now. I don't hate my job, but it's typical cubeville, if you work there you know what I'm talking about. Well, last week someone found my resume and contacted me. A small company, less than 15 people, and I'd personally be working with 2 other guys in a small office away from the main office. That's right, two people. I see jeans, shorts, and flip flops in my future. Exactly what I'm looking for.

Now the downside. It will more than double my commute. From 7 miles one way to 23. I won't be taking a massive step up in pay that everyone hopes for when taking a new job. I haven't gotten an official offer yet, but it sounds like it will barely be more than I make now. But personally I'm ok with that. To make the same money but be happier is cool with me. The biggest downer is the fact that time off doesn't seem to be that great. He told me that because they're a small company they don't have an official policy, but a week would be about it. I told him I currently get two weeks and would be soon earning a third week if I stay at my current job. He said he's going to go back to the owner and try to negotiate something for me.

I'm scared. I've been too comfortable for a while now. Wanting to get out and do something new but afraid to take the plunge. What if this, what if that? I think this would be great for me. I mean in the whole scheme of things, who cares about extra time off? It's a small company and flex time is always available if need be. I might work longer hours, but I'm ok with that too, I've been slacking too much for a while now. Why do I have to pick everything apart, why can't I just try it out and quit comparing every little thing?

God damn!

Bill Maher rules! I'm watching Bill Maher: I'm Swiss", and not only is it freakin' hilarious, it's true. Brilliant.

Interesting find...

Courtesy of http://www.fatamerican.tv/about.htm

From the book Fatu-Hiva
by Thor Heyerdahl

"Man has conceived a bedeviled word. We first let it out of our own mouths and next permitted it to grab us by the nose and lead us astray. The word is "progress". When first conceived, this term was meant to describe a forward motion, a change from something bad or good to something better. Never to something worse. Then we took it one step further.
With superb self-confidence, we assumed that we ourselves would never change anything for the worse, so we were quick to adopt the same word to describe man's move away from nature. Any invention, just any artificial product or device, was progress. Progress became something determined by the clock and not by quality. Still tied to its original meaning, progress can never run backward. Irrespective of whether we judge it with a compass or with a watch.
No architecture left by the early Egyptians can therefore ever be said to represent progress from what Europeans built in medieval times, even if everyone agreed that the Egyptian buildings were superior. An ancient Greek sculpture of Venus of Milo can never represent progress from a modern composition of a corkscrew and a cogwheel hanging from the spokes of an umbrella. The term progress is always in favor of the living generation, will therefore never go out of fashion, and the dead can never turn it to run counterclockwise, in their favor.
We like to think of progress as modern man's struggle to secure better food for more people, warmer clothing and finer dwellings for the poor, more medicine and hospitals for the sick, increased security against war, less corruption and crime, a happier life for young and old. But, as it has turned out, progress involves much more. It is progress when weapons are improved to kill more people at a longer range. It is progress when a little man becomes a giant because he can push a button and blow up the world. It is progress when the man in the street can stop thinking and creating because all his problems are solved by others who show him what happens if he turns on a switch. It is progress when people become so specialized that they know almost everything about almost nothing. It is also progress when reality gets so damned dull that we all survive by sitting staring at entertainment radiating from a box, or when one pill is invented to cure the harm done by another, or when hospitals grow up like mushrooms because our heads are overworked and bodies underdeveloped, because our hearts are empty and our intestines filled with anything cleverly advertised. It is progress when a farmer leaves his hoe and a fisherman his net to step onto an assembly line the day the cornfield is leased to industry, which needs the salmon river as its sewer. It is progress when cities grow bigger and fields and forests grow smaller, until ever more men spend ever more time in subways and bumper-to-bumper car queues, until neon lights are needed in daytime because buildings grope for the sky and dwarf men and women in canyons where they roll along with klaxons screaming and blow exhaust all over their babies. When children get a sidewalk in exchange for a meadow, when the fragrance of flowers and the view of hills and forest are replaced by air conditioning and a view across the street. It is progress when a centuries-old oak is cut down to give space for a road sign."

Reading the dictionary

de·moc·ra·cy
n. pl. de·moc·ra·cies

1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
2. A political or social unit that has such a government.
3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
4. Majority rule.
5. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Does this sound like our country?

1. Debatable.
2. See #1.
3. The "common people" are definately not in charge.
4. Debatable.
5. Within a community? Maybe. Within the entire country? Definately not.

So for each "debatable" I'll give a half point. So we get 2 out of 5, at most. Are we living in a democracy? Doesn't seem like it, does it?


fas·cism
n.

1. often Fascism
  a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
  b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
2. Oppressive, dictatorial control.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Does this sound like our country?

1.
  a. Our govt leaders have more authority than in recent times, there are no declared socioeconomic controls, but they may be implicit, there is certainly suppression of the opposition through terror (read: "They hate our freedoms", "Fighting evil", War on Terror, Struggle Against Global Extremism, constantly changing Terror Alerts), there is certainly belligerent nationalism (read: if you don't agree with our policies, you're anti-American), there is not advocated racism, but there are certainly implicit religious undertones.
  b. See a.
2. Not outwardly oppressive, but it seems more so every day.

Which definition fits better?

7,778 miles in 339 days

This is amazing. One day I will quit my job and finally do something that I never thought I could do.

Want to get away

I've been having a serious itch to get out onto the road for a while. Circumstances right now are such that I don't have a lot of disposable money or time. However I still have my weekends. I want an overnight trip, not a day trip. I've found that day trips, while nice, aren't the same. Because after a day trip I still come home and have the TV and the computer and all the things of home that remind me that I'm, well, home. And with home comes responsibility, bills, thinking, etc, etc...

So I want to do something spontaneous. I know thinking about doing something spontaneous is bit of a contradiction. But there's some logic behind it to me. I'm not really trying to decide what to do necessary, but rather I just want a direction and sort of destination. And unfortunately, I would have only from Friday evening until Sunday evening. So my radius is limited. But once I have a direction I will figure out what to do and where to stay as it happens.

I live in San Diego, which is great, however I've realized that road tripping here isn't quite the same as the east coast. Distances are further, and I'm kind of tucked into a corner. Or am I? hmmm... If I head north, I of course have to deal with Los Angeles.

I need ideas. What to do and what direction to go? Suggestions welcome!