Easily the single most depressing movie I've ever seen.
Don't see this one if you're on meds.
I mean, it was good; the intertwined stories were interesting, and it was well-presented. I simply found it extremely depressing.
In the end, if you've paid attention, you really understand the choices that are made. That doesn't help.
I've been impressed with the support staff's efficiency. It's stunning. Everything was ready for me the day I arrived; all I had to do was fill in the forms.
Then I arrive at the customer site-- three days of doing absolutely nothing wears on your nerves. Everything I have to do is queued behind getting network access.
The official procedure requires network access in order to get network access.
I shit you not: the forms are on the server and only on the server, and the training is an interactive slideshow with computer moderated test. This of course requires someone to log into a workstation so I can complete the process, which is itself a violation of the organization's security policy re: shared accounts.
Luckily I've had an account on this domain before, so once I get my old sponsor's training documents transferred-- stored online and only online in a system that can't be touched by my new sponsor-- I should be able to dispense with the rest of the rigamarole.
Then maybe I can get to work.
I spent all day putting new vinyl tile in the kitchen. I'm more than half finished, thankfully.
It's clearly more work than it's worth, IMHO. M. initially wanted to put Pergo (or similar) flooring down, but I'm not up to doing that myself. We ran a couple of bids for the work-- while we have the cash, that would be it on the home improvement front for at least six months.
When all was said and done we decided on doing vinyl squares instead. It's cheaper by more than half, quite durable (we'd already done that in the foyer & dining room), and very attractive. Frankly speaking we're not willing to spend that kind of money on a house we plan on selling in a few years anyway.
Yes, that's right, we had a tract home built and plan on selling it in about six years. Not for much profit of course; there's far, far too much tract housing going up around this time to net anything much-- despite the high turnover of military families. FWIW I'm willing to walk away from a sizable chunk of equity, as long as I can recover my VA eligibility. Equity I can't spend isn't really money in the bank, after all, so it's not as bad a loss as you might think.
The reason is we need a much smaller place once the kids are gone, especially so given M.'s multiple sclerosis. This house is simply too large even for the four of us, and the second story simply exacerbates the problem. I'd really like to hire an architect and a general contractor, and build; but I doubt I'll ever have the cash.
It's my last day with TASC today. Come Monday, I'll be working for MITRE doing things for the USAF again.
Interestingly, I'm not nervous about the job; it's stuff I've done some of before. There will be new things to learn, which is all it's really about as far as I'm concerned, but for now the position I'll be filling is something of an old hat. I'll still be doing Information Assurance, but with more formal crypto thrown into the mix.
There's another position in MITRE I really want, but it wasn't offered to me. But shifting inside a company is always easier than coming from outside, so I may be able to weasel my way in there yet.
I must say though that it was one of the easiest interviews I've ever had, probably because I've worked with the people that interviewed me before. I've always had an image of MITRE being the "smart people" in my field, so I'm still a little stunned (and flattered) that I'm going to be working there.
Leaving TASC, however, gives me mixed feelings. I'm definitely moving up a bit-- not because TASC isn't a great place, mind you, but because few other organizations command the amount of respect and influence in my field as MITRE-- but it's also the one job I've been at the longest since college.
I was up late last night reading an old girlfriend's livejournal.
All of it.
Just to see if I was mentioned anywhere.
Can you say "lack of closure?"
For the record, there was one passing reference and one possible direct reference.
Once I was a Libertarian, with a big 'L'. I was even a registered member of the party (hereinafter abbreviated 'LP'), albeit briefly. But I eventually was faced with the following conundrum:
The essential role of government, as I have long understood it to be, is the protection of the rights of its citizens against any and all who would infringe on them. Traditionally, these infringing entities are:
This is not a new idea. The Boston Tea Party and the boycott that preceded it wasn't simply a protest against unfair taxation as our history textbooks say; it was also a protest against the favored status of corporations-- the East India Company among them-- backed by the legal authority of the Empire at the expense of its subjects. Much of what the founders of the American Republic wrote on the issue of corporations could easily be mistaken for anti-globalization writing today.
Why do I bring this up? Because I read this wonderful article over at Alternet yesterday, and it sums up exactly the problems I had with the Libertarian Party policies-- and by extension the laissez-faire arm of the GOP-- and why I ultimately split with them to become a Progressive.
But these issues are not part of the debate. They are deliberately clouded by the economic Right (which includes both the GOP and the LP).
Hasn't everyone seen Gangs of New York by now? Watch it again, only this time look at the social structure that underlies the story. That's the world we're racing toward. We need to put on the brakes, turn ourselves around, and start facing up to our responsibilities to each other more.