scott

We Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists

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So the MTA workers have struck in NYC. That means the dreaded telecommute for me! Since I rely on the subway to get anywhere I am rather ticked off. But what pisses me off the most is the reasons why the union is striking. I am not the hugest fan of unions in general, and this strike reiterates my issues about them. Forget my specific issues with the unions contract. I just want to know why if you have a group of people who refuse to work for the conditions (reasonable conditions) set by the employer, that you cannot replace them with people who will? Seriously, if you were a corporate worker somewhere without a union and you said I am striking until I get a better contact you would be replaced right away. I am curious to know any non union workers who would have a job if they decided to not show up for 2 days because they wanted better benefits?

And lets talk about benefits. Back in the day (early 1900’s) unions were necessary. Without them people where exploited. Is the MTA exploiting the union members now by asking them to contribute 1% to their health benefits? I don’t know what % I contribute to my health insurance but I know it is allot more than 1%. Also where can you work that you can demand a guaranteed raise of 8% a year for 3 years for everyone? What ever happened to you do well and you get a raise?

You have a group of 30,000 people holding a city hostage. They have cost innocent people hundreds of millions of dollars because they think they are entitled to a better contract. Well wake up TWU, several other unions have been operating without a contract for a while. They don’t strike and cost others not involved in the situation money. The mayor was right, your leadership is a bunch of ignorant thugs. I feel bad for the union workers caught in the middle, because yes they too are caught in the middle of all this.

I do have to say I am thankful that the governor and mayor didn’t cave into demands. TWU, if you act like terrorists we treat you like them. We don’t negotiate with people holding cities hostage!!!

Dinner With The Family

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I hung out most of the day today. In the late afternoon I went over to my sisters and meet up with her mike, and morgan to go over to my parents neighborhood for dinner with the folks. We went to a decent italian restaurant for dinner. We had a good night, I got to see everyone (especially my most favorite only niece). She gave me a drawing (well she was kind of arm twisted into it, she wanted to give it to her nanny. I am not upset since I know my place in her world!) that now decorates my refrigerator door.

After dinner I had an uneventful trip home. A nice end to a decent weekend!

Real Checks

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Yesterday I had to deposit a real pay check. At first I didn’t know what to do! I have had direct deposit for like 4 years. Well seriously I knew what to do, but it quickly came back to me how annoying it was to goto the bank every few weeks with a check. I am switching banks (more on that later) so I needed to have 1 paper check so my employers payroll company could send a test EFT to the new bank. I will be back to the land of automatic payments in a few weeks.

The good news is my company started recently direct deposit expense checks. My last place I worked did that. It made life really easy. No need to goto the bank for almost any deposits:).

Road Trip

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I took a work road trip today. Had to meet some people in our other office and several other people had other missions up there so we rented a van and drove up. Got allot done, and we tried to avoid the traffic from some storm that was coming up the coast. We didn’t really avoid the traffic. Got stuck in it from the GWB all the way to my house. I assume that everyone was stuck in it past that too.

After work I hopped out of the van by my house but instead of going home I hoped on the subway and went to heartland brewery to meet Jayson and John for dinner and drinks. I had fun. We talked and hung out. We need to schedule another poker night.

Powerbook 12″ Mark 4

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I now am the proud user (not really owner) of a brand new Apple Powerbook 12″. My old one cleaned up and on ebay as we speak. I was thinking about upgrading for a few months. I didn’t need to since my old one is barely 6 months old, but I was feeling the lack of hard drive space. I can fill a 60gig drive really quick. So when the opportunity to upgrade to a new Powerbook (and give up my windows laptop at the same time) came up I jumped at the chance. I was using my windows laptop less and less, and if work was willing to get me a mac (and lets face it I was using my personal laptop as my work laptop for a while) I was going to take the offer. And I saved the company a ton of money by because getting a new windows box would be hundreds of $$$ more than the powerbook cost. Win win.

The only down side was I just wiped my old powerbook and reinstalled everything like 2 weeks ago. So I had to do it twice in a month. I am gettng good at it though! And yes you read the title correctly. I have gone through 4 versions of the 12″ powerbook. I also had 1 15″ before the 12″ came out but that was way too big for me. The first 2 twelve inch powerbooks were bought by people I know and they have nice homes now. The third one is on ebay since no one I know wanted to get it. It had a bunch of people interested but no one was ready for a new machine so a stranger will be very happy with their purchase!

Man Shopping

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Today I took the day off and went man shopping with my dad. Man shopping you ask? Well you will get the picture in a minute.

I got up normal time I would for work and headed out to my parents place. My dad picked me up at the end of the 7 line. We headed over to “the dinner” for some breakfast. Nothing says lets go man shopping like eggs, greasy hash browns, sausage, bacon, buttery toast (some whole grain toast, my dads only concession), cheese, and 5 units of insulin (not for me). When we were full we headed out to the mall, Roosevelt Field if you are keeping score at home.

We were actually shopping before 11AM. Even in a holiday time like now, you can expect little or no crowds at 11AM on a Friday. We hit the Verizon store to setup 2 new cell phones for my parents and transfer numbers from their old provider, 20 minutes. I was amazed that when we walked out of the store the numbers where already ported over. It took me a week and 7 phone calls when I did it. Next we hit the Apple store to just look. I didn’t find any cases for my new iPod so we didn’t buy anything. My dad liked the 30″ cinema display.

Next we were off to Best Buy to get a new PDA for my dad. This man shopping trip was for him, not me. We have been planning on doing this for months, so we had a list. He ended up going with the Palm Tungsten E2. Nice color screen but simple since he does not need tons of frills. He loved the screen on it.

After that we went to the La-Z-Boy store. He wanted a recliner. We spent the most time in this store. Most of it was lying in several chairs. We had to test them to make sure he was picking the right one. He found a nice comfy one in black leather. We paid and we were done with everything in under two hours. Now that is what I call man shopping!

I then went back with him to his house to move him to his new “temporary” computer. That took a few hours. Then we went to eat by my sisters to see her and morgan. My mom staid home since she was not feeling well. All in all a productive day (for him). I got not much done for me, but I had fun.

iPod 60Gig

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I took the plunge. I went to the Apple store and Kai and I both got a new 60gig iPod. My old 40gig (non color) iPod is being cleaned up for resale to someone. I didn’t get the new one for the video functions, but that was a benefit. I got the new iPod because it is supposed to have great battery life, it is slimmer than the old one, and it FINALLY comes in black. And of course the main reason to upgrade is the fact that it is 60GIG’s. I actually use the thing as a portable hard drive so I was running out of space on the 40gig. The color and video are nice extra’s (maybe even the final extra little feature that got me to buy it) but they are not the main reasons.

So far I am not happy that there was 1 type of case available for this model iPod at the apple store. What gives with that apple? So I am stuck with this really pathetic case they give you. Another, what is up apple? For $399 you can give me a better case than this. A cradle would be nice, but my old cradle works so I am not happy. The only other complaint I have is the fact that my nifty wired remote no longer works since apple decided to change the physical inputs. What gives there? Did you guys sit down and ask what good feature can we take away to piss off customers?

Yes I am griping. Why? Because I spent allot of money on a portable music player, and I expect to get my moneys worth. In general I am happy so far with my new pod, but it could be better! And yes in my book it is still the best out there!

Anniversary

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Today is my 4 year (full time) anniversary at my current company. In some ways it doesn’t feel like 4 years, and in others it feels like I have been there for ages. it is weird looking back. I really have been working at the same company for 5 years coming up in July. Or 5 years in March starting off at the original company that provided support for my current place. It was a rather complicated situation. In any event it is 4 years to the date that I stopped being a contractor and started my full time stint.

On most days I am happy and don’t even think about leaving. That is a big step for me since before this place I never stayed anywhere more than 2 years (nor did I want to). I say on most days because this has been a rough week. Things are settling down, but I had high stress levels dealing with some people.

Stupid People

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Why are there so many stupid people that take mass transit in NYC? Today I found my breaking point (aka the point where I stop being quiet and taking all the retarded people and start talking back to or commenting at the morons). It took being forced off the train due to switching issues and waiting for 20 minutes for bus’s that I couldn’t get onto and then forced to walk 20 blocks to the 59th street station to take a different train to work.

While I was waiting for a bus there was a huge line. I was like the 4th or 5th person on line. Not bad, until you factor in bus’s that couldn’t fit 1 extra person on them let alone 5. So when a bus pulls up I was slightly ticked off when this older lady behind me blatantly cuts in front of me and a few other people to try and get on the bus. After being delayed like 30 minutes already I opened my mouth to point out there was in fact a line. The lady played dumb for a while then got back in line. I mean come on. F–king idiots. Then some old guy in front of me started telling me how I should always respect my elders and I should have let the lady in front. I told him to mind his own business. I am all for helping an older person with a walker or someone clearly in need of extra assistance. But I am not going to yield for every “older” person who thinks they are entitled to cutting people waiting for ages just because they have some years on me. I am not trying to be mean, but when dealing with a public system (like the bus) NO ONE is special. Get over it. People are just inconsiderate, and don’t realize they are not the center of the universe. If they did people wouldn’t stop and tie there shoe in a crowded subway stairs, or get off an escalator and stop to look around with 100 people behind them. Also fat people would not push in front of you to get on a crowded subway car and then push there way into the car where it is clear there is not a reasonable amount of room for them. And then the idots standing at the door of the train would actually move further into the car allowing others to get on. The moronic tendencies go on.

I am glad I now know what has to happen for me to finally speak out against stupidity. It actually felt good. A weight lifted off my chest.

I actually got to work only about an hour late, but I felt like I sat in a steam room for that hour. I would like to say the rest of the day went better, but it didn’t.

Insomnia Sucks

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I can’t sleep. I can’t stand that I can’t sleep. I actually am up now (obviously). I usually stay in bed for hours hoping sleep will come. It usually doesn’t and I don’t feel any better so this time I got up and I am trying to do stuff to keep my mind off the fact that it is 5:30 on a monday morning and I don’t have to be up for another 2 1/2 hours but I am up. I have been up since 4:30. Well that was the first time I checked my watch. I have probably been up long before that. I am not sure how I will get through he day with almost no sleep, but I will find out.

Not much to do at 5:30 in the morning. I might watch some stuff I Tivo’d last night. Or just write some more. Not sure yet. What to do with hours of time you didn’t want or expect to have before work…