Category: General

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As of today I’m unemployed

This is a mixed blessing, and a long time coming.

I wasn’t going to go in until next week. But I noted that a paper check had been cut paying me a lump sum for my vacation, and unused holiday time. So it’s convenient and profitable for me to drive down there to hand in my shit.

It’s also a nice form of closure I will no longer have anything that I have to be responsible for and with few exceptions the company and I will be done with each other.

In hindsight, I took the position for all the right reasons. There was no way I could have known just how screwed up the project would become. Bad management is as likely in one industry as it is in any other. That there is a concentration of crappy management in the aerospace industry shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

These people have existed within a culture of obscene overruns for decades. Most of them have the attitude that no matter what, they can always go back to the government for more money and in many cases they have built systems and procedures where that assumption is integral to any project they bid.

The movie Pentagon Wars was a comedy. Sadly, it is also surprisingly accurate in it’s depiction of how government projects work.

It’s a real pity that the bureaucratic red tape necessary to become a government contractor is so arduous that many companies simply refuse to even try. I think that it’s time for the government to reduce the bureaucracy in favor of better, more modern, less expensive goods and equipment.

The old guard contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, Raytheon, and TRW need a good solid kick in the pants in terms of competition. Lessening the red tape and allowing new players and new ideas into contract bids would serve the nation well.

That’s just my opinion.

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The Santorum follies continue

Santorum is obviously clueless and probably out of his mind.

As if this guy hasn’t done enough harm to his political aspirations already, he’s continuing to blather on about gay marriage.

I’m sure that his handlers wish they could shut him the hell up and keep a script in front of him at all times.

Thus far he’s pointed out that a napkin is not a paper towel (making the point that gay marriage is not marriage)

He educated us that water is not beer and calling water beer doesn’t make it so.

Now he’s astounded us all by telling us that a cup of tea is not a basketball.

Clearly a politician is not a politician just because he’s running for president. Right now the least of anyones worries in this country are gay ANYTHING!

What does he propose to do to stimulate the economy?
Address the banking mess or the foreclosure issues?
How is he going to deal with the wars we’re fighting and what does he propose to do to increase our safety without accruing yet MORE enemies?
How does he feel about apologist politicians?

His handlers need to tell him to stop beating a dead horse or he needs to drop out of the race NOW and give his campaign warchest to a candidate that actually has a grasp of what the president should be doing.

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One of the ways I relax

Took a long drive yesterday This was my first time on hwy 2 since it reopened.

The road was partially closed for 4 or 5 years. At it’s highest point it’s about 7000 ft. One very bad winter, the snow, ice, and rockslides caused a large section to slide down the mountainside. CalTrans opened as much as they could in the Summer but it wasn’t open to La Canada.

I used to take it home sometimes from work. It’s not as fast as the Freeway (well come to think of it, in rush hour traffic… it might be faster!) but the scenery is beautiful and if you’re someone that likes to drive, it’s a great road to forget about the work day on.

I took a few pictures but it really was the wrong time of day to get nice shots. I couldn’t resist a picture of the road, it’s new and smooth.
This is the kind of road my car was built for.

Drove all the way to La Canada from Wrightwood, it was a great drive! I had the top down, the road to myself and it was sunny & beautiful.

Coming back from La Canada right at the base of hwy 2,  I watched a young deer saunter across the road.

He was at least a 4 point buck, once he crossed the road he paralleled it for a bit. I drove by slowly, keeping an eye on him.

My concern was that he might panic and dart back into the road ahead of me then both of us would have a bad day.

I don’t think California lets you keep what you kill… the image of a deer strapped across the front of my car is amusing. The further thought of the cost to repair the inevitable body damage is not!

As I got even with him, he started to panic a little… when I realized he was trying to get ahead of me, I accelerated away. He disappeared into the trees a second or two after I passed him.

I wish I’d been able to grab the camera and snap a few pictures of him, he really was beautiful. But paying attention to the road took priority.

Seeing that deer made my day. Between him, the drive, and the sun on my skin I returned home very contented.

Gotta do stuff like that more often.

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Whooo Hooooo!

It’s probably counterintuitive but I actually got my notice. So the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train!

No more stupid furlough, I’ll be able to turn in my company equipment and process out and since they’re finally laying me off I get to keep unemployment benefits.

I know it makes no sense….

Once I’m free and clear of the paperwork and all the other silliness I’m thinking I’ll write a nice long blog posting just to get all the frustration out of my system.

Now, at least I know what’s happening and can chart a direction that doesn’t screw me.

Of course given the history of the management I’ve been dealing with, it could all change tomorrow!

For today though I’m a fat happy camper. Only question to ask is, what do I want to do now for a career?

I’ll think about that tomorrow.

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Well, Practical Considerations must come first…

I was planning a couple of trips. 

These trips were contingent on my getting the unemployment / and issues surrounding the furlough sorted out so that I could be gone for extended periods of time.
Between my company demanding that I appear there at the drop of a hat. Not knowing if I’ll be called back or how much time I might have before I have to report. That the company is still having me fill out their damn time card and to do that I have to have internet access. The uncertainty of the unemployment payments and that I must be here at least once every 2 weeks to fill out and sign their paper forms. 
It looks like my dream of traveling is shot full of holes.
Part of the delay in traveling is because I was hanging around during Js vacation month. Every day I asked “What would you like to do?” Now we’re at the end of that vacation month, we’ve gone and had some fun but nothing like the longer trips that I’d envisioned.
Since funds are dwindling in the accounts, I’ve started the job search program. In all my plans I’d never once considered the furlough prospect. 
It’s something that I’ll not voluntarily participate in again. It bleeds your resources and leaves you in an indeterminate state, neither employed or unemployed…  It messes with your head because you’ve never quite got enough information to make decisions with and no matter how many questions you ask no-one ever has any answers.
In my case, the company had appeared to be operating in a chaotic mode. Even HR didn’t seem to have a clue about what information they were supposed to give employees. My faith in the company has been horribly shaken.
I’ve remarked privately to friends that I’ve thought the company was cruel. Over the years they’ve always created a panic situation just before the Summer vacation season. My management has always said it wasn’t intentional, I’ve always maintained that the timing spoke to either very poor planning & budgeting or intentional fear-mongering to insure that the employees were always grateful that they had a job.
Either way, the circumstances have had profound effects on all of us. There are many of my co-workers that have maxed out their vacation accrual because they didn’t want to leave for vacation during a “Crisis”.
Now as we wait and wonder, it’s a mixed bag. On the one hand if we’re laid off we’ll have some pay. If we’re not laid off we’ll go to a new project and in all likelihood face the prospect of the annual panic and never spend our vacation time.
I’ve decided that I really don’t want to have to deal with that level of uncertainty all the time. To that end, I’m initiating a job search now. I’ve been answering inquiries from headhunters that have reached out to me. But now I think it’s time to ramp up the search and get proactive.
This of course means a few things.
Yet again, my dreams die, or at best are shoved to the background.
I’ll probably end up going back to technology. While technology has been very good to me financially it’s not what it once was.
I risk becoming bitter and angry that I once again have to step up and commute through the HELL that is Southern California traffic, while my other half essentially gets to work from home. A home by the way that I will rarely get to enjoy because I’ll be pissing my life away on the freeways.
Due to the fierce competition for limited jobs in Southern California, it’s very likely that I’ll have to make some serious compromises on salary, or health care & other benefits.
Maybe I’ll get away… but it’s looking less and less likely.
As to my dreams… well it’s looking like to follow those, I’m going to be making some hard choices. 
I’ve been putting off making those choices for a long time now… 
I guess I’m about out of runway…