Matthew

DeadOrAliveJournal?

2001-12-04T20:47:52Z

Here I am, finally updating.

Between how busy I've been, and the fact Livejournal has been down the few times I've tried, it's been nearly impossible to write any updates.

And to those who say, "get a membership," I say, "been there, had one, the reliability still sucked." Not to completely knock all the hard word the site's creaters have put into it, because aside from the reliability aspect, it's the best damn journal site I've seen.

And speaking of liking unreliable things, I drove the Porsche to work today. Problem is, I've got all these old phone books we cleared out of our cabinets a while ago (not all ours, either.... some had been in there since before I'd even moved to California, lame-ass management company just never cleaned them out). We meant to take them to a recycling drop in Torrance, which is why they're in the car, but the center was closed that day (and will be now until next Spring). Now they just sit there... well, slide all over back there, waiting to find a new home. It's just no fun taking a corner hard when everything's sliding around. I have got to find another recycling center that will take those.

I redesigned my website since my last update, too. I got tired of having a big personal webstie out there, so I changed it to focus more on technical content. It's still a little sparse, but I'm slowly getting more things up there.

What's annoying, though, is I keep getting all these hits from people searching for Sharon Kramer, who is apparently some personality in that stupid Majestic game (remind me to rant about how stupid that game is sometime). Not only the hits, but e-mails and conversations in my journal comments, asking what I know about her and crap.

News flash people, I'm not part of your god-damned stupid game. Avoid real social interaction on your own time, will ya? I want nothing to do with it.

Oh yeah...

2001-11-20T19:31:23Z

I'm stylin' today... Hot Pockets for lunch.

Beats walking all the way over to the cafeteria. Besides, Boeing owns that cafeteria.

In other work-related news, after four years of successfully dodging every manager's attempt to leash me with a pager, I've finally run out of excuses. *sigh* Mine is on order and should be here in a couple days. Doom on me.

School Days

2001-11-19T23:14:45Z

Well, this has been an obnoxious afternoon at school so far. First, the walk across campus to my first class was along the fields they just fertilized with fresh manure. Mmmmm.

Then I get to that class, only to find out that the project I busted my ass to finish this morning had been postponed to next week. Somehow, only about 1/4 of the class was aware of this. That prof babbles so much and so incoherently that it really is just about impossible to pick up anything important she might say.

Most, annoying, though, were the two dumber-than-rocks kids I sit next to. Since no one can understand a word the prof says, it's not uncommon for people to do other work during the class. Not these guys, though, they were having a full-fledged, animated conversation. Which is typical for them, and not particularly annoying normally. But they reached a new low today. I had managed to successfully ignore them until the conversation came to this:

DUMB: I can't believe he did that
DUMBER: Dude, I'd pay to see someone kill himself. [sound of disgust from the girl behind us]
DUMB: No way man.
DUMBER: Really. Wouldn't you? I've never seen someone die. You have to.
DUMB: Uhhhh...
DUMBER: Would you shoot yourself in the leg if someone paid you to?
DUMB: I dunno, how much?
DUMBER: Like a thousand dollars
[More similar stupid questions about jumping out of airplanes, off of buildings, getting in a car accident, etc.]
DUMBER: What would you do for a million dollars?
DUMB: I dunno
DUMBER: Would you have sex with a guy?
DUMB: Dude, yuck. No way man. That's exit only.
DUMBER: Would you have sex with a transvestite?
DUMB: A transvestite or a transsexual?
DUMBER: What's the difference?
DUMB: A transvestite is a guy who dresses up like a woman. A transsexual is a guy who has become a woman.
DUMBER: A transsexual?
DUMB: For a million dollars? Sure.
DUMBER: Ohhh, yuck. You are sick. You are one dirty fucker.
DUMB: Hey, she's a girl now.
DUMBER: Dude, it's still a he, just with parts cut off.

At that point I finally asked them to knock it off (yeah, took me long enough to realize I couldn't just simply ignore them). They apologize but the "man, you're sick, I can't believe you'd have sex with a guy." rhetoric kept on going. I finally just left the class. Sure wasn't getting anything useful out of the prof anyway.

And then, to top it off (but the day's not over yet), I finally get to the engineering building, and get stopped by a guy in my Comp. Architecture class. Not someone I've ever been chummy with, I've just sat over his shoulder in the lab once or twice and helped him get his project working. I don't even know his name. Anyway, he came up to me in the hall and said he wanted my number. Given his difficulty with English, and the fact I don't even know him, I wasn't even sure what he wanted. Sure enough he wanted my phone number.

ME: I'll give you my e-mail address
HIM: Oh. Ummm. You don't have a phone?
ME: I do, but I don't just give that out. If have questions, you can e-mail, though.
HIM: Okay. I can't have your number?
ME: No. You still having trouble with Lab 6? (the last and most difficult lab for the course)
HIM: No, it works. I need your number for help if I don't understand something.

Yeah, so basically someone I don't even know (and find particularly difficult to talk to and understand) wants to be able to call me when he's studying for the test and final. Audacity. Some people are strange in how they just seem to assume you want to help them. People like him, who don't ask for help, but demand it.

Only 50 minutes until my next class. Wonder if anything annoying will happen between now and then. I'm on a roll so far today.

Plotting your own demise

2001-11-14T17:06:07Z

Heh. It's not uncommon around the office for people to put up notices in the snackrooms and community areas, selling their cars or condos or whatever.

I went to wash out my gladware (brought fruit to work for breakfast.... damn was that papaya good) in one of the snackrooms, where someone was advertising a two-person cemetery plot for sale.

I'm guessing divorce. Regardless, it's definitely not your typical item for sale. Especially in a workplace. But a company like this is just filled to the brim with pragmatic engineers.

We don't want your sick

2001-11-14T16:42:17Z

More and more, both around campus and the Internet, I hear Computer Science and Computer Engineering students complain about their dismal job market prospects. I've heard some go so far as to complain that it's not fair that they had to spend 4-6 years in school, because they started when programming and web development jobs were all the rage.

You know, nothing lasts forever. Anyone who expected that the Era of the Mediocre Programmer would continue on indefinitely is naive. Maybe it's just who I know, but it would seem most of the people doing the complaining are the ones who are struggling in their studies anyway. The people who really only chose the field because of their optimism about future job salaries.

For those students and recent graduates who are skilled in their field, job opportunities abound, even in this time of a poor overall job market. There isn't a day that goes by here that we aren't desperately looking for bright, competent graduates.

However, no society (or in this case, company) survives by taking in the weak links. We don't want your sick. We don't want the mediocre.

The days of the quick buck for any programmer with a pulse are over. Wake up and smell the Java, dammit. If you're studying something you're really not very good at, for the purpose of doing it for the rest of your working life, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate.

That said, I think I'll get off my high horse now.

Where did all the cars go?

2001-11-12T18:29:59Z

The drive to work this morning was almost creepy, between the gloomy fog and the complete lack of cars on the road. I was beginning to wonder if something had happened that caused everyone to stay home. It took a while before I realized Veteran's Day had happened. How come I work for a Defense company, yet I don't get Veteran's Day off? The holiday was actually yesterday, so it didn't really both me until I saw how many other people obviously stayed home today. I mean, the roads were desolate by Los Angeles standards.

Bah, and I see I still have class tonight, too. What a pisser.

Oh well, at least the drive to school down the 405 should go quickly for once. There are few things I love more than the five-lane parking lot known as the 405.

On Ice

2001-11-11T06:43:55Z

Jenny and I went ice skating today. It was the first time in years for both of us (longer for me than her). I even had her parents secretly ship out her old skates for the occassion.

Wow, I swear I used to be able to skate better. Zoom zoom zoom go the kiddies, flying right by me. Oh well, I was slowly getting the hang of it.

Of course, just as we were getting ready to leave, I took my only big fall of the evening (to avoid taking out some poor innocent little kid). Got my knee real good. So we came home a little sore, but it was well worth it. I want to go again soon, but I just hope I'll do a little better next time.

Tomorrow: hiking.

If we're not too battered and bruised for it.

Holy Fog, Batman

2001-11-09T16:51:34Z

Wow, is it ever foggy out this morning. Usually, the worst fog of the area is around where we live, and it's never as bad here at work. Not today. I thought it was bad when I left home, but up here it's friggin thick. I wish I had my camera with me so I could take a picture of LAX, or at least, the place where LAX is supposed to be. It's gone. Vanished. Poof. In a cloud of smoke. Well, water vapor.

Not that we're allowed to bring cameras in to work anyway. Of course, the same rule is supposed to apply to cell phones, yet people left and right are now taking calls on their cell phones in the building. Tsk, tsk.

Today is definitely a coffee morning, with this cold dreary fog hanging about. I rarely have coffee, but I had to stop and get some this morning. It just seemed necessary.

Missing Persons

2001-11-08T18:50:25Z

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated here. I really haven't had much to say of late.

I still don't, actually, but I got tired of seeing my last post form October at the top of my page.

So, first thing after waking up this morning, I registered for Spring classes. I actually got everything I needed (three computer engineering electives and two general education courses). Between those and the one GE course ove ther three-week winter semester, I can graduate in May. About damn time. Somedays I question whether I'll actually pass everything I've got this semester, but I'm sure I'll make it. I have to.... I can't stand putting off graduation any longer.

Grad school is going to be such a breeze compared to undergrad, jsut because of scheduling. Not to mention, I'll probably actually be interested in it. But yeah, that's still a ways off. Although I suppose I should take my GREs soon.

It's almost the weekend again. Yay.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

2001-10-29T00:14:58Z

This morning I was sitting at the table, eating a little breakfast, when it seemed like the floor was shaking a little. And just as I thought, "oo, a little earthquake," there was a big shake, followed by another one. I almost wondered if someone had accidentally driven into the building or something. Then, a few minutes later, just as Jenny and I were looking online to see what had happened, I felt the big shake again. Sure enough, there was a 3.7 quake in Compton and a 3.0 in Gardena. Groovy.

I've felt very few earthquakes in the four years I've lived out here, and that was definitely the biggest. And as long as they remain benign, I can't help but dig them.

We'd put together a big list of things we wanted to do this weekend, most of which had been left for today. But as we were leaving for the farm market this morning, and discovered how incredibly nice out it was, the list got chucked and we decided to go to the beach. But not until after a nice little roof-off drive in the Porsche through P.V. to the market. I don't like driving that car on my longer trips during the week, so I live for getting to cruise around on the weekends. Especially when Jenny has just picked up some new music to jam to (Ja Rule and DMX, this weekend). Anyway, we got a pie pumpkin at the market, came home, then left for the beach.

I think we were the only people in the water, but it wasn't any colder than it is sometimes in the middle of the summer. And it was low tide, too, which always makes playing in the water fun. We had the digital camera and took a few pictures. The novelty of going in the ocean here when it's already snowing back in Michigan (where we're both from) still hasn't worn off.

A Daily Oath

2001-10-25T18:02:47Z

Do you ever feel like there's no cause left worth really standing up for? That there is no one you can really look to for leadership? No one who will tell you what to do and think, and how much you should pay to do that?

Perhaps, then, you've forgotten about this little company in the Pacfic Northwest called Microsoft.

If all people could only would make the following pledge, the world would be a better place. A better place with really nifty-keen software. I personally make this pledge at least ten times a day.

I pledge allegiance to Microsoft,
Greatest company in America.
And to the products for which it makes.
One company, under Gates, indivisible,
With Windows and and IE for all.

Actually, that's just a little diddy (the D the I the D the D the Y, it's Diddy) that Jenny came up with pretty randomly the other day. I thought it was funny, so I had to share. It'd make a good windows start-up graphic or something. Heh, I should do that.

Anyway.

So, I'm planning to bleach my hair for my Halloween costume. I'm kind of nervous about dealing with it being blonde after the festivities, but I suppose I could always die it back to my natural color and let it grow out. It's not like I let my hair get very long anyway. Damn, I love Halloween, I can't wait to go clubbing.

Busy Morning

2001-10-23T20:26:43Z

I've managed to get quite a bit done this morning, actually. Despite having an appointment this morning, I still managed to get some essays done that were due today, covering everything from the Murder vs. Suicide of Silas Deane to the relationship between the Tobacco Boom and the 80% mortality rate of Jamestown Colonists in the 1620's.

I've got another to write about the Demographical Influences on the Salem Witch Trials, then I'll be done for the day. Tomorrow, I've got a big one due on American Protestantism, Past and Present, but I know that material well enough that it shouldn't take me long to pound out a few pages.

Unfortunately, to give myself time to work on this, I had to postpone my interview for that project I mentioned a few weeks back. Heh, I still don't even know what the project is.

All these papers and such have reaffirmed my realization that I enjoy history more than computers. I'm digging this stuff. So much more interesting than my senior project (designing a pipelined RISC processor). Why is it that the stuff I find more interesting has to be more difficult for me? My senior project is a breeze, but passing a history class can be a real struggle. Oh well, maybe that's what makes history so interesting to me. I wonder how much undergrad coursework I'll have to make up to get into UCLA's Near Eastern & African History graduate program. I should talk to a counselor over there sometime.

Well, time to finish up here and head off to school.

Wolfish

2001-10-21T17:01:11Z

So we took our little trip to Julian yesterday. First stop was the California Wolf Center, where we got to see some of the wolves they use for education and breeding programs.

Princess is one of their social wolves they used to use for classroom education, but they claim she's gotten a little cranky in her old age. Being one of their socialized wolves, though, she was still willing to come up to the fence by us.

Tundra is from their unsocialized pack. They say members of this pack will rarely come anywhere near people, but we actually got to see quite a few of them, including a glimpse of their sixteen year old alpha female, Rosie. Tundra, here, is also featured in a magnet we bought, kissing a cub.

Afterward we got lunch and went to the Julian Cider Mill to pick up 2.5 gallons of cider (you can't find decent cider anywhere in L.A., it seems), some pumpkin butter, and some pomegranate jelly. Then we left to go do our tradition apple-picking at the Calico orchards (best damn apples I've ever had). Unfortunately, we got there at 4:40, but were informed they close the pick-them-yourself orchard at 4:30. The guy was a real prick about it, too, so we turned down his offer for pre-picked apples. Sure, they're good apples, but picking them is half the fun, and I hate to reward people who are rude. So we came home without apples. I think we're going to see what we can find at the Palos Verdes Farmer's Market today.

Apple pie is a necessity in the fall, you know.

Long Week

2001-10-19T17:12:39Z

This week has been pretty hectic. There's been so much going on with work and school (midterms and all), that I felt like I never had a chance to stop and breathe. Apartment problems, fueling our incredible need to move, weren't helping at all, either.

But hey, it's Friday. Work is easy today, especially since the people who have been bugging me the most have the day off. Finally a day in which I can work on my own stuff.

Better yet about it being the end of the week, though, is that tomorrow we're driving down to Julian, a former gold-mining town in the mountains north of San Diego. It's more of a tourist attraction than anything else, these days, but it's one of the few places where it ever actually feels like fall. So we're gonna go pick a bunch of apples (for apple pie, of course... Mmmm), buy some fall goodies (real apple cider, pumpkin butter), and check out the Wolf Center (where they are trying to bring back the natural wolf population). Okay, so the wolf thing isn't very Fallish, but it's still fun-sounding.

And speaking of wolves, our little monstrosity of a dog is going to be staying with a friend for the day. I hope he doesn't hate us afterwards. Halle is quite the little handful.

Well, time to do some of that work stuff. I think I'm going to finish up my Six Sigma certification paperwork today.

Brrrrr

2001-10-16T20:52:58Z

Damn, am I ever cold. I'm having to wear my lab coat in my office just to keep from shivering.

Our building management crews take about a week to react to any change in weather. So the A/C is still just crankin' away, even though it's dropped off quite a bit outside.

A project manager just requested an interview with me. Weird, having to interview within your own company. I don't have the slightest clue what the project or the job is, though. She said she'd tell me more in the interview next Tuesday. Odds are it'll be something lame, but hey, why not. I always enjoy a good pat-down in the morning anyway.

I've had this mild eye strain headache for two days now. It really hasn't been all that bad, it just feels like there's constant pressure on the top of my eyes. I've been using the computer very little lately, preferring to more paperwork and lab stuff, but that doesn't seemed to have helped. Bummer.

Umm, what else? Microsoft sucks. But that's not really worth going into.

Lately, we've been on quite the Buffy kick. Watching all the reruns of episodes we've missed, trying to catch Angel, wishing DirecTV would add UPN *now*, not Jan 1, so we can watch the new Buffy. I don't know exactly what it is, but that show (well, those shows), are really just the kind of fun in television programming that I've been craving lately.

Hell, they're the only thing I even watch on TV.

And now I'm just babbling to fill up space. Time to shut up.

Gooooo Carnivores!

Love them holidays...

2001-10-14T02:09:56Z

Hangin' up Halloween lights, oh yeah.

May our landlord live forever in fear of my tackhammer.

Woohoo

2001-10-12T22:51:43Z

Well, despite taking the morning off, I actually managed to get something done today. I just finished anoter patent claim for work I did with another person. This one has a much higher chance of success than my original, but I think they'll both be approved in the end. The disclosure for today's is friggin 30 pages long. I'm so glad to have that done with.

Just in time to go home, too. And it's the weekend, no less. Not a bad end to a gloomy-feeling week.

And a big "bugger off" to anyone who wants to start whining about how unfair software patents are.

Clean Teeth

2001-10-12T20:13:31Z

I had a dentist appointment this morning. I was past due on my semi-annual checkup (ummm, by like a year), and have been dealing with a super sensitive tooth lately.

The verdict: Get those damn wisdom teeth removed. Turns out I actually have a cavity in one of them, so maybe I won't put it off this time. All four are impacted, so that should be a fun visit.

Afterwords, I have to get a filling on one of my other teeth because I've managed to wear away the enamel on one corner of it. Which would explain why halloween candy has not been agreeing with that side of my mouth lately. Oh well, better than needing a cap. I've got a bit of a problem with grinding my teeth together. Especially these days when everything feels so much more stressful.

In other news.... Hmmm, I have no other news.

Chomp.

Oops

2001-10-11T21:02:13Z

I forgot to step out for lunch. Can anyone tell me if there's a sun outside today?

Old Man

2001-10-11T18:45:16Z

I'm feeling afflicted today. I've got a cramp in my leg that won't go away, my jaw aches, the A/C has me shivering, my phone is ringing off the hook with obnoxious phone calls, and I'm feeling the affects of a poor night of sleep. On top of that, we've got neighbor problems at home.

What a day, what a day.

When I got to work, there was no sunshine. I'm really hoping that when I step out to get lunch in a little bit, there'll be some. At least in my other office I can see the windows across the hall. Here I feel like I'm in some deep, dark cell. Heh, actually, to continue that analogy, it feels like solitary confinement. It's so damn quiet here today, and neither of my officemates are here. It's not Friday, what's up with all that?

Oh well, the lucky guys missed the fire drill this morning.

Hrmm, I don't have much to say this week. I'm thoroughly tired of this war business, especially discussion of it online. Jenny and I talked quite a bit last night about how reactions to things differ so much in real-life social groups versus online communities. I've been noticing how vocal the minority opinion is online, lately. How much they act as the majority and are damn-near venomous towards people who don't share their opinion. You can see it in anything from computers to war to religion. Ironic, when you observe that they often complain about how single-minded and venous the majority opinion often is.

And not to say that a minority opinion is the wrong one. That's definitely not the case. It's just interesting, and sometimes frustrating, how vocal and overbearing it is in online communities.

It's probably something to do with a level of comfort that anonymity provides.

Either way, I've been appreciating having people around that can actually discuss topics intelligently. And people who know when it's time to let a topic drop and let bygones be bygones.

Well, I suppose I should get back to my work. If I can keep the phone from ringing constantly, that is. Two calls during this post. Bah.

I feel like a switchboard operator. "That's not my problem, call so and so." "I didn't write that code, ask that other person." "You'll have to ask this person where they put their documentation, I've nothing to do with it." "Complain to Motorola, the bug is in their chip, not my code."

Anyway.

Fun Morning

2001-10-08T16:39:45Z

SECURITY GUARD #1: Mornin', Mr. Kramer
ME: Mornin
SG: Can I see inside your bag?
ME: Sure.
SG: Can I feel you up?

Okay, it didn't go exactly like that, but they're doing pat-downs at the first building I stopped at this morning. And in less-secure buildings, they're being super-anal about not only checking IDs, but feeling them to make sure they're real. Apparently, on Friday someone got into one of our buildings by photo-copying someone else's ID and pasting his picture over theirs. He got in with it, too, and wasn't caught until much later in the day.

Oh, and there's an airplane sticking out of the 12th floor of this building. Not really, but it looks pretty funny. They have a F/A-18 nose mock-up sticking out of one of the labs to test a new electronically steerable array.

Anyway.

Last night I had about the worst sleep I can remember. I woke up just thirty minutes after I went to bed, just drenched in sweat. And I mean drenched. I have no idea what that was about, but that was only the start of a long night. Anything and everything woke me up after that. I tried to sleep past the alarm, but once I turned it off, the dog started whining to go outside.

To Halle: Thanks, girl. As grumpy as I may have been, if you hadn't dragged me out of bed, I probably would have slept til 9.

Time to make the donuts.

derubermensch @ 2001-10-07T16:48:00

2001-10-08T00:07:10Z

Well, it looks like just about everyone out there in LivejournalLand has had something to say about this afternoon's attacks on Afghanistan. So now I'll take my turn.

At this point, I just don't know if I agree or disagree with the U.S. actions. There's too little information on what we hit. I personally have felt that they key to fighting this battle against terrorism was going to be a long process using Special Forces units. There's no way a "conventional" war would work against this enemy, who is spread out across a very harsh terrain, hiding amongst people uninvolved in its holy war on the U.S.. Accordingly, I've been skeptical about the use of large aircraft bombing and cruise missile attacks.

However, protecting this enemy is the Taliban, who is not quite so hidden. They have attack aircraft, anti-aircraft artillery, heavy armor units, and an organized fighting force. I would hope that today's attacks were targeted on these impediments, allowing not only easier operation of special forces units in those areas, but also allowing for an uprising of the Afghan people that the Taliban has oppressed. It also improves the ability for humanitarian operations to provide the Afghan people with food and medical aid.

Likewise, I hope that the occurences of these types of attacks are extremely limited. They carry with them the highest risks of harming people unaffiliated with the Taliban or terrorist networks. I would much prefer the use of special forces teams that can operate with near-surgical precision. Of course, they can only operate efficiently when the command structure above them does not try to micro-manage them, which has been a notorious problem in their operations in the past.

On a side note, I've seen a few people voice concerns about the accuracy of the weapons used in these attacks. Namely, the Tomahawk missile. Like the Patriot missile, its performance in the Gulf War left much to be desired. Since then, they have been redesigned to use much more reliable guidance systems, including GPS. Supposedly, we shouldn't ever see the same kind of problems with them again. Hopefully we'll see that's the case as more information is available on what targets they selected and how well they were hit.

Hmmm, a lot of babbling from someone who didn't have an opinion either way, no?

I hate to see what is going to unfold in the near future, but I personally feel that I see the necessity for action on our part. I just hope the people involved manage to keep this war of theirs focused on terrorist groups, and not let it spread to general war against countries in that region.

derubermensch @ 2001-10-05T11:17:00

2001-10-05T18:30:06Z

Well, whatever it was that got me ill-feelin yesterday, it disappeared almost as quickly as it came on. Within a couple hours I was pretty much back to normal. Yeah, fun.

I decided to apply for a job at the CIA. They're hard up for people with my qualifications right now, and I've worked with some of their sub-agencies, so why not see what they have to say? If nothing else, it could be a fun interview. I actually like the McLean, VA area (I grew up in the nearby Shenandoah Valley), but Jenny isn't too big on the idea. It's not really a serious consideration, though, as much as I might like the work.

So this morning I finally got my ass back into the gym again. What used to be my daily routine, faded away into completely nothing for a month, and now I'm back up to an 'amazing' once-a-week workout. Bah, doom on me and my lazy ass that fights getting out of bed before 7am. Whatever happened to the 5:30 mornings? I used to have such discipline.

But yeah, lifted weights then did some quality high-intensity work on the treadmill. I've got my peaks back to a good sprint. But I damn near cried when I found out I'd lost weight. I'd tried for so long just to gain 5 damn pounds, and now they're all gone. How depressing. So, I'm getting two slices of the world's greasiest pizza for lunch. Not exactly the kind of weight I had in mind, but I'm not feeling choosy at this point.

Choosy kids choose Jif.

But I don't get peanut butter anymore. Mmmm, peanut butter pie....

Abu Dhabi

2001-10-04T21:19:02Z

Nothing like going from fine to sick faster than you can say Abu Dhabi.

Damn, I feel awful.

Dilemmas

2001-10-04T19:42:29Z

I've got a bit of a dilemma. I'm getting a little sick and tired of the project I'm currently working on. The whole thing has gotten FUBAR, and everyone is spending time pointing fingers instead of fixing problems. Except our group here, who has been asked repeatedly if we'd mind taking over the other groups' responsibilities. Or at least supporting them (the other groups are in Central CA and Texas). And I have absolutely no desire to touch the piles of dung those groups have managed to create.

Reminds me of the whole Denver International Airport fiasco a while back. Some company bid on DIA's insane project to modernize their entire baggage handling system. Making it the most advanced, intelligent baggabge handling system in existence. A couple of years and tens of millions of dollars later, the project was taken away from the company who made this bid and couldn't get anything to work. In stepped my then-employer, Rapistan, who got paid to clean up the mess and rebuild the advanced system that didn't work into an ordinary system that did work. But because Rapistan is the company who completed the DIA job, they often get the blame for all its problems. Anyway, I certainly don't want that for myself.

So I think it's time to pass the buck off to someone else and leave the project. The whole reason I was there was to get funding for my pet software project that I pitched to them as being an incredible time and cost saver. It's pretty much done, maybe now it's time to give it to someone else and say "here, I made this wonderful portable system, now it's your job to see if it's really as portable as I claim it is."

But that leaves me needing a new project. In our tactical groups, I have pretty much my choice of projects. Air or ground; radar, infrared, or electronic warfare. But for some reason, I feel the need to get more involved in intelligence. I have my clearances for all that kind of work, and have a few "ins" within the group, but do I really want to spend the next couple years in our black projects buildings? Gah, no internet access from my office anymore. I worry about not being visible to the people responsible for giving me raises on promotions. Which is probably a bad idea, given that I'm young and on the fast track now. But then, they claim they have enough responsible management in those areas that those kinds of things aren't the problem they used to be.

I think it's serious time to draw up some five and ten-year career plans.