a New job, a New office, a New 10-Key

So here I am in my new office, I started in my new position officially on Monday. This position is rolling out as a beta for the company. I am really looking forward to taking on some different responsibilities and see what kind of an impact I can make. So far I have spent a good deal of time just getting settled, and trying to figure out what kinds of things I can do that would be useful to the department. My new assignment is as Project Controller for Outside Plant. Basically I am responsible for making sure jobs get done on budget and on schedule. I have spent the first few days working on the budget aspect and I want to get to some training to help me better figure out the scheduling side of things.
So far I like the opportunity; it has been a good transition for the most part. My former boss seems a little overly tight on the “security” she wants to grant me. I am not sure if she took away my security clearance because I am suddenly a different person or what, it was in the name of internal controls but it seems more to me like an exercise of power than anything else.
I am now working for Randy and he seems to have a good amount of faith in me and what I can do to help his department. I also had a meeting with the owner where he basically said it was up to me to step up and take control, the authority is in place. I really like the idea of having the corresponding authority and responsibility, one reason I really like Americom; the owners seem to be very aware of that balance.
I just want to say a little bit, or maybe a lot, about Politics. Mostly my comments revolve around the idea that a Bi-Partisan system in no way serves the greatest number of people. I think the only president ever elected that wasn’t just the lesser of two evils was George Washington. But my real concern revolves around the idea of sensationalism. Before I go bashing the liberals I should probably preface my remarks with the fact that I don’t find either candidate appealing, at least not at this point. I think Obama is a pro when it comes to being sensational. He has the media wrapped around his little finger (I am coughing in Letterman’s general direction, can’t even watch that show anymore). Not to mention the ridiculous “endorsements” he has received. I get a little tired of hearing about endorsements; I think they are a bunch of crap. Should I even care who the governor of Florida is voting for? I find some of it rather amusing, especially when candidates try to back-peddle out of endorsements that may have at one time served them well but have since turned very sour. How will people act? I think most all people change how they act when given a new level of authority, not even I am exempt from that one. So how would either candidate act if they were elected to be president? Would they act based on their voting record? Maybe. Would they act based on their values? Maybe. Would they act based on what their spouse told them to do? Probably. The problem is we really don’t know how people will act, surely a longer voting record may provide some level of trust that their actions would follow the pattern but it certainly isn’t a guarantee. What if they don’t have a voting record? Should we just believe what they say? I don’t believe a single one, the first one that starts voting for lower wages for politicians is the first one I would consider believing, don’t worry that will never happen. Our political system is so dirty it makes me sick; laws get passed based on the size of a pocketbook or in many cases black book. What ever happened to the idea of putting a bill up, and if it doesn’t get voted in, it goes away, instead of pulling the bill back (add a whole bunch more crap to it, like a fund for sickly Africanized spiders) then resubmitting it at twice it’s original size with the caption that it will only get bigger if it gets rejected again.
I don’t know if it is possible for politicians to be ethical, unless they work pro bono including rejecting all those little perks, like NBA season tickets, golf club memberships, etc.
Maybe lobbyist should be illegal, if people want a voice they should try using their own rather than purchasing one.
My last line is traffic sucks, I can’t wait until the teleport technology is perfected.

Wait for the End!

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

So I suppose I haven’t updated in a bit today I have been surfing the disturbing news stories a bit so I have some stuff to rant on, including but not limited to: political fundraising, home foreclosures, and jibjab.

1^st jibjab, just because I am guessing you already watched the video before even reading my post, yep that is Sir Isaac there at the end, awesome ehe? Go ahead and make your own.

2^nd Political fundraising is ridiculous; these people have raised more than 200 million dollars, and what for? Just so they can further plaster there images across the web, TV, and various other media outlets. Seems like a massive waste of money to me. Especially since the reason they are spending money at this point is not to increase awareness but to persuade people that they are right.

3^rd Housing crisis, what a mess this country has gotten itself into. So in Las Vegas in the month of June (and only the month of June) 1 in 99 homes was sent foreclosure notifications. That seems staggering to me, since it is just one month of a now 6 month slump for the Vegas area. Not to mention that they have said there current downturn has come because construction has slowed, well that means it is going to get even worse because if energy prices (including gas) stay the same then people are going to stop heading down to Sin City, and I am pretty sure the biggest revenue in Vegas comes from tourists.

In other news Candi and I have been working on our basement for the last couple of nights. We got some shelving built in the “mechanical room” and put a whole bunch of crap in there, but now it looks nice. My next project down there is to finish rolling out the carpet and frame the last two walls. It is coming along and I think in the next month or so it is going to look pretty nice. Plus it is nice and cool down there. We really look forward to having the extra space. Finishing the basement will make it so we can move one couch, the TV, the DVDs & CDs, all of our books, and the LoveSacs. That will make room for us to have a dinning room upstairs. I am really looking forward to the idea of having a place to eat dinner; getting a little tired of the coffee table, 4 years is just too much.

Consider yourself "Blog-Tagged"

I've been blog-tagged. I guess here are the rules: come up with 6 unimportant facts about myself, link back to the person who tagged my blog, and tag 6 new people.

This came from Steph

This is tough because everything about me is important, but I will give it a try.

1. One of my pet peeves at the office is crappy staplers – when the staple doesn’t go through and just bends up, or it doesn’t bend after it goes through (leaving a nice sharp point that you can later rip your finger open on)
2. I like to cook, not to be confused with baking (baking is for the women folk ;-D). I like throwing spices and stuff together in a pan as well as grilling up delicious meats and veggies
3. My iPod has enough songs on it that I could listen to music for 9.87 days straight, without getting a single repeat. However my longest playlist is only 1142 songs. I am also obsessed with iTunes, making sure all my music is organized the way I like it with album covers and all.
4. I am an aspiring Ham Radio operator, I am taking some classes to become an amateur operator starting next month.
5. I don’t like cake, especially yellow or white. I like some pies and love the crisps, but cake is just too cakey.
6. I have only fainted twice in my life, once from dehydration (I fell down a mountain, fractured my hip and sprained my knee), and once from a combination of low blood sugar and loss of blood (I cut my thumb tip off, the next morning when I took the bandage off I lost a bunch of blood, and knocked my head on the shower door a couple of times, while Candi was showering)

So now I am supposed to “tag” six other people, since the likelihood that 6 other people actually read this banter is rather slim I will just go with the default “tag” line, if you read this you have been tagged, sucker.

Scars Revealed

So the bandages came off yesterday. I thought I should put up a picture of my new “zipper.” It kinda looks like the cut could just split right back open again, but it seems to be okay for the time being. I have been doing massages and stretches to try to get the tendons back to the point where I can grip stuff again. Sometimes when I think I am grabbing something it just falls out of my hand, since stretching the tendons is already a lot of resistance. So I am going to have to put aside my aspirations of becoming a hand model, unless somebody is looking for a Frankenstein version.

I started training the “new guy” yesterday, my replacement. I am glad they got someone to start, though I am a little frustrated with the way some things have been implemented. They knew this guy was going to start two weeks ago and yet HR never bothered to get his user name, email, or any log in stuff set up. So it makes it so that I can’t do anything when he is doing something and vice versa, the problem is it takes him a lot longer to get stuff done than it does me, so if we have time sensitive tasks he just has to sit back and watch.

We busted out our tent yesterday, it was a little on the stinky side, so hopefully we will be able to get it cleaned up in the next day or so. Candi washed the rain fly in the tub so that part is so fresh and so clean. We are getting ready for our regular 4^th of July trip up to Bear Lake. It should be a good trip, as long as we can keep the bugs off.

Well I have to go play some rock band so hope ya’ll have a good evening