MMMmmmm…. Ragu and Beans!
Allen February 28th, 2005
Earwig warning!
If you liked Magical Trevor, behold! Magical Trevor is back and now appearing on the pigeon planet.
And for those who don’t know. an earwig is a song that gets stuck in your brain.
Archive for February, 2005
Tired of blogging why I’m not blogging.
Allen February 25th, 2005
It seems lately that I’ve done blog entries that complain that I don’t have time to blog, but that is the simple truth. I’m usually come up with something to write about, but never seem to get a chance to write it as the day progresses. <sigh>
We finally transitioned to SAP here at work and a lot of my code is starting to "die" off. Of course, I’m now spending a lot of my time working on getting a new job. I’ve received several nibbles and have some talks lined up.
Don’t really reach that many other blogs (or rather peruse using an RSS aggregator), so that may be another reason why I’m not posting as much. Perhaps I need to slim my "daily reads" back far enough that I can really read them daily.
Need to get back to a program I’m finishing up, but I’m listening to "Mercy Now" by Mary Gauthier. Highly recommended if y0u like bluesy country.
The First Nominee: Gene Stipe
Allen February 20th, 2005
This weekend, the Scouts and I went on backpacking trip at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas. I ended up not being able to backpack — cave exploration and weak ankle leading to sprained ankle, nuff said. But the views were fantastic and I really enjoyed myself.
I was driving back to Norman when one of the adults (a former 777 Scout now in college) noticed that one of the correctional facilities was named after someone. We decided that only a sewage treatment plant would be a poorer honor.
This lead to thinking up a new way to raise money for cities.
You go to a prominent citizen in your community and tell them that the city has decided to name the sewage treatment plant after them. Of course, they would prefer that the plant not be named after them and then you tell them that you’ve already signed the contract and it will take a significant amount of money to break the contract and they will have to pony up the money.
Just keep repeating.
And why Gene Stipe? For those who are not Okies, a quick background. Gene is a prominent state senator who recently was caught with his hands in the "fundraising cookie jar". The trial was delayed over and over and then the sentencing was delayed over and over. Gene, worth over $47M, finally showed up and received 1,000 hours of community service.
I was writing this up when Channel 4 just announced that the time Gene spends as a paid lobbyist will count for his community service hours.
Sometimes when you are thinking of a title for your post, something happens that just fits the bill.
Only I think perhaps in Gene’s case, we should drop the fund-raising portion of this idea.
Take One Down, Pass It Around
Allen February 16th, 2005
Finally shutting down systems in anticipation of our SAP cutover at work. Had an interview with a headhunter yesterday. Going backpacking at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas.
Really want to blog more, but I just can’t seem to find time.
Someday, someday…
Bump-bump-bumba-da-bump!
Allen February 9th, 2005
Just a quick series of mini-posts.
The first is announcing that I finally received my Termination date — 4 April 2005. At first, I thought it was My Mirage but the date is real.
After working since Fall of 2002 to close the facility and a full year after actually leaving the premises, I can move on with my life. Someone asked me, "Are You Happy? Did you get Most Anything You Want?" I replied, "Flowers and Beads. And severance pay."
Can’t think of anything more to say. I feel like I’ve stepped into a cool, green garden.
You know the one.
[The above news is real. Just decided to make it a themed post.]
Anyway, resume is polished up and now I can start looking now that I have a date.
But In Mine
Allen February 2nd, 2005
Over at the Times Online, Michael Grove doesn’t know who won the Iraqi election. But he goes further than that…
And who lost? Well, a full list would take up all this column, but, for starters, I would say that the people who seemed a little glum yesterday morning include Saddam Hussein, Robin Cook, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, George Galloway, Osama bin Laden, Douglas Hurd, Bashar al-Assad, Menzies Campbell, Jacques Chirac, BBC News and Current Affairs, Robert Fisk and Sean Penn.
On Sunday Iraq enjoyed freedom. And enjoy seems to be the mot juste. Iraqis celebrated their chance to vote, revelled in it, embraced it. But for Robin, George, Douglas, Menzies, Jacques, Sean and those who joined them in opposition to the Iraq war there can’t be any great cause for celebration, can there? For none of this happened in their name.
Women in an Arab nation taking their place as free individuals alongside men, their voices and votes at last given equal weight. But not in your name, Robin. The Kurdish people, victims of chemical attack, ethnic cleansing, savage repression, at last voting to take their equal, respected, place in a new Iraq. But not in your name, George. The Shias of the south, after years in which their culture was marginalised, their lives held cheap, their faith mocked and their relatives tortured, now, at last, assuming a share of power in their own land, through the ballot box. But not in your name, Douglas. And an Arab nation, defying the racist stereotypes of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s camel corps, shows itself not just ready but enthusiatic [sic] for democracy. It is a victory for the principle that human rights can have a universal application. But not in your name, Menzies.
While I think the cause for war with regard to WMD was oversold, I do not think we went into Iraq solely because of WMD.