The Nerd's Eye View

I was riding the train to work the other morning, bleary-eyed from a sleepless night. I'd been late geting to the station and caught the later train which is not an express, and so it was that I found myself searching through half-closed eyes for something to occupy me. At the far end of the train car I was in was a poster touting the ice show "Disney on Ice: Princesses". Now I could spend probably another three paragraphs being exasperated with the "ice show" genre but that's not what this particular post is about so I'll spare you the rant. But what sort of Lo Fat Mo would I be if I didn't rant about something?

The poster had the usual stylized lettering and of a course a pinkish/lavender background (they're Princesses!) and the faces of seven beloved Disney heroines: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Ariel (the Little Mermaid), Jasmine (from Aladdin), Belle (Beauty of Beauty and the Beast), and Mulan. As I examined the poster I broke the princesses down into categories because that's the kind of guy I am. Strictly speaking Belle isn't a princess although after marrying the Beast she may have married into minor nobility, like Cinderella did, whereas the rest of them were born nobles. The princesses were two brunettes (Snow and Belle), two blondes (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella), a red-head (Ariel) and a two "ethnic" girls with black hair (Mulan, Jasmine). The princesses were three "goldn age" icons, and four characters from the Disney resurgence of the 1990's. They were five white girls an Arab girl and a Han Chinese girl. Which is when it struck me that there wasn't an African princess up there.

Now if you know me, you know that I am not really one for paying too much attention to race. Yet the missing black princess was startlingly apparent by her absence. I cast my mind back to the Disney movies I'd watched in my youth and found that their omission wasn't so surprising - after all there'd never been an African princess in any story that Disney had committed to celluloid. It certainly wasn't for lack of interesting stories. The various African mythologies and folkloric traditions are not wanting for depth of character and story material. Even the hackneyed Egyptian stories can be mined, let alone the tales of the west African civilizations. Yet when Disney sets a story in Africa, they choose to use animals as the main characters. Which may explain why there's no African princess in "Disney on Ice" since having Nala the lioness on the ice wouldn't really be very glamourous.

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In the waning hours of my time here at Faceless Corporation (before I move to NewCo)things are changing quite rapidly. I'm not sure if this is just my perception due to the fact that my time is running out at Faceless Corp or whether the gravity is increasing as the place draws closer to a local collapse. In either case things have been happening that were quite unexpected.

First of all there is the formation of the indoor soccer team. I wish I could say that it was a subversive group of guys who were hell bent on playing some version of clandestie soccer in the hallways. Alas, it's merely a group of engineers who actually want to play soccer at the indoor arena near work. What makes this remarkable is that the tight-fisted scrooges we work for are actually talking about paying for uniforms. These are the same people who have made me pay to participate in every team building exercise I've been at since I came to work 3 years ago (good Lord! Has it really been that long?). I probably shouldn't even mention that they're thinking about it, lest I jinx it but in my overall astonishment I just can't help it. Today I got the news that one of the senior managers "loves soccer", and would we "put him on the team". This is more like the sort of Faustian bargain I was expecting but I've put my foot down. So we'll see how this pans out but quite frankly I'll be shocked if it goes through. It'll still be funny to tell people that I play for Faceless Corporation Football Club (yes, FCFC, and I like that joke thank you very much).

The other surprising thing, and I think this is overall less of a surprise, is the sudden reference to "green tech" all over the building. The groundswell of support for environmentally responsible retrofitting of technology has been rising for quite some time, mind you. I am nevertheless genuinely surprised and pleased that the gears of the machine have finally moved it in this direction. Beyond the simple modification to our manufacturing process (which is still a considerable move forward, although some of the provisions have been in effect due to EPA regulations for years) there is the decision to use "green" energy for our facilities and buildings etc. This represents a considerable investment on the part of Faceless Corporation since these energy sources are still more expensive than the traditional methods in use.

Wonders apparently never cease, and the only question I am left with is what will they come up with next.

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I posted some New Year's resolutions here earlier this month. I didn't do a good enough job of telling you why I wanted to do the things I mentioned and I just came across someone who describes my situation perfectly. It's also a fairly accurate depiction of my progress as well.

Honestly this guy "somegreybloke" is quite funny. I came across him totally by accident and I have to say that it's been a pretty good find so far. It's the deadpan delivery that really brings it home. According to Dr Germ, this is basically how British folks are. Due to my inherent gullibility I totally believe that. You should too.

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With things being so hectic here at Faceless Corp sometimes it's hard to find time to write up a quick post. It's also hard to separate myself enough from the tumult in order to really assess things. A month ago we were told that our facility - on of the last fabrication facilities left in Silicon Valley - was closing by the end of the year. Three weeks ago we were all told that we'd be cutting 25% of our technicians due to the closure. Yet I as still shocked this morning when I arrived at work to find that all of our technicians had been given their 60 day notice. Apparently the new management had decided that it would be easier to give everyone their notice and then simply inform the unlucky 25% in a couple of weeks. Of course this leaves open the legal basis for just firing anyone, anytime. After all they'd all been given their notice.

I'm certainly not overly sentimental about business decisions - sometimes people must be let go for the viability of the overall enterprise. It's the manner in which you let people go and the lack of respect you show for them and their situations that I find so distasteful in this case. It's the overly legalistic writing in the notice, the Bushian attempt to put yourself in a legal position to make any course of action you care to, that makes my blood boil, and leaves me feeling complicit in this act. So I am sitting here typing this hoping to expiate myself.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This may not be true but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound plausible. I can feel the money not jingling in my pocket already.

link courtesy of the bwolson

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am. Not sure how to stop. I need video games, lots and lots of video games.

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Being one who avoids the swine, I am constantly amazed at the love that this particular animal and it's various by-products inspire. This choice of formalwear fits entirely into that strange fetish. Note the scent, scratch-n-sniff never had it this good.

link courtesy of Dr Germ

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2007 was by far the noisiest year in recent memory, for me. A majority of that noise issued from the various candidates and pretenders to the position of the President of the United States of America. A gaggle of these folks have caused a lot of unnecessary hubbub with their talk of perhaps, maybe joining the race, the formation of their exploratory committees, their withdrawal from exploration of the idea of joining the race and their hypothetical policies if they were possibly thinking of exploring the idea of getting into the race. It all got to be too much and as November rolled around I welcomed the thought that it'd soon be over, before of course remembering that it was only 2007.

At first I thought I had the "voter fatigue" that they are always talking about in the media, but how could I so early in the election cycle. And how is it that the election cycle has oozed out of 2008 and back into 2007? This set me thinking about the issue - the main issue as I saw it - the inflation of the election cycle. Many people have written about this particular issue, and the general consensus is that it's just too dang long. Firstly, it promotes voter fatigue (known, occasionally, by it's other name voter apathy); secondly, it's a waste of money. No news there, right?

Where there is news however, is the News. Yes, the politicians' war on democracy is ongoing, but really we could all just decide not to pay them any mind. That's a little difficult when the news outlets are blowing the politicians' hot air into every corner of the nation. I certainly don't mean to absolve the pols of their responsibility in this, but it strikes me that without the cable news (if you want to call it news) there would be less of a sense of how it all just drags on and on. Discussions of slivers of policy differences between prospective candidates in the same wing of the same party, so-called "gaffes" that one candidate has made, outrageous appeals to emotion; all of these are cast in front of an uninterested public. Which begs the second question: in a media environment supposedly regulated by the market, how can this be what outlets choose to cover? This is particularly vexing since in the United States about ~70% of eligible voters are registered to vote, and of those registered, on average a little more than 50% actually vote.

Setting aside the reasons for this low turn-out (perhaps not the lowest in the developed world, but suspiciously low for a country actively trying to spread democracy at gunpoint in the Middle East), let's ask a simpler question: why would a media outlet spend so much in resources to cover a story that such a low percentage of the population apparently cares about? Why hire people to nitpick through everything a candidate says if, in th elong run, the candidate will never really be called to account for his or her statements? It's a lot of sound and fury which signifies nothing, if I might paraphrase a much better writer. One would think that the market - the vaunted Deus ex machina that cures every ill - would correct for that when there is such a low interest in the political process. If there truly is interest in the process, then are we seeing a voyeuristic interest in politics - as if it were something that were happening to someone else? I can't figure it out, but if anyone knows please go ahead and clear it up for me or call your local round the clock news channel with an explanation.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The weather report yesterday was the sort of thing you'd see on an old Sesame Street episode: a sun in a sky with a few clouds, followed by a dark sky raining the wrath of God onto the land. It wasn't the sort of thing that I would tend to believe, not because I think meteorology is a conspiracy, but because I have grave doubts about the ability of meteorologists to predict while light comes up after green. So it is with some surprise that I watched as storm clouds gathered above the city with mayhem in mind this morning.

As the train pulled away from the station a huge sheet of water struck the windows and I knew it was "on". All the way down the peninsula I watched as the placid palms of northern California did their best imitations of Florida palm trees in hurricane gales. Strangely this made their fronds all point south towards my work, as if they were saying "Evacuation Route". Visibility on the way from the station to work was limited and everyone of course drove with the sort of exaggerated caution that aggravates me. By the time we arrived at work I was glad to be done with the whole thing, and spending the day insulated from the outside world. Ah the glow of fluorescent lights keeping me warm and safe.

Still the rain in the South Bay was less severe and the wind seemed to have died down, especially by the time I was ready to go home. I had a dinner scheduled with Dr Germ at her boss's house in Mill Valley, and so she picked me up at the train station. As we drove through the city I realized the severity of the storm. All over the place tree limbs had been ripped cleanly from the trees they had formerly been attached to. The results of the extensive flooding were evident all around as well. We drove across the Golden Gate bridge and into Marin which was quite dark. Driving up the hill to the boss's house it got darker and darker, and when we turned off the headlights we were plunged into complete darkness. If you hadn't guessed before the reason was that the power was out to the whole neighborhood. While that made for a charming candle-lit dinner it also made for a treacherous descent to the house from the street, and a similarly harrowing return trip.

I think the weather is set to continue like this for the next few days which is a little scary since it'll make the city insufferable.

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There are few things worse than getting an email at midmorning asking for an "all hands on deck" meeting. As you can imagine this caused a lot of consternation and rumor-mongering come lunch time. Rumors ranged from "we're all getting our pink slips, Friday is our last day," to "they're going to give us all ice cream!" Needless to say the truth lay somewhere in the middle. In fact it appears that our VP will be leaving us next week, we're laying off technicians at the end of March, and there is no future for our facility.

Lucky for me, I am almost out of Faceless Corporation! Although I am only moving sideways into Shaky Co, which consists of a lot of the same people who work with me at Faceless Corporations. More problematically, the leadership is made up of the folks who brought our fortunes to this pass. Of course, that poses another set of problems, but let's not discuss those now.

I was surprised at how disappointed I was to hear that the facility was going to die by the end of the year. I mean I should feel fine, right? After all here I am with another job (shaky though it might be) lined up. Yet part of me has a lot of loyalty to this poorly run facility. I suppose that much like a first girlfriend, there's no getting over your first facility.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not the type of person who makes serious New Year's resolutions but for some reason - be it my advanced age, or the cold in my cube - I feel compelled this year to put to "paper" some resolutions for the new year. The problem is that I'm not sure yet what they should be.

1. Come up with some good resolutions

This one is the tough one but I figure it has to happen first, right?

2. Lose some weight, fatty! And by some I mean 10-15 lbs, that's not a lot right? Although frankly my love for the finer things in life, like deep fried anything.
3. Seriously, it's the weight, fat-ass!
4. Save more, spend less (stop me before I come up with an original idea)
5. Eat healthy (I got a million of 'em!)

Nothing good so far, I think.

6. Turn on the comments on the blog (not as easy as it sounds. I've been getting emails from some of you fine folks about that and I promise you it is a matter of time. Just waiting out the comment spammers, so hopefully we'll be back to the usual around the end of the month)

So please be patient with me, both for the comments and the so-called resolutions. It'll all come out in the wash.

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So now all of a sudden Khartoum has become Palermo? An American USAID rep and his driver were shot on his way back from a new year's eve party. This news is quite shocking for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the shift that it indicates. For all the problems in the Sudan, Khartoum is a relatively safe place. No muggings, armed robbery is a rarity, and larcent of any kind tends to take the form of stealing something when the owner is not around and/or asleep. So how, all of a sudden, did this happen?

The Sudanese government initially claimed that it was due to a 'road rage' incident. Come again? This isn't LA, it's Khartoum! Where no one owns a gun, let alone an automatic weapon.

And how is it that anyone would kill a USAID officer? They are relatively harmless and more importantly, they're a manifestation of the good that can be done by a superpower. We're not even talking about "inconvenient" observers in Darfur, he's a functionary in the embassy in the capital. So where does all this come from?

Posted by Lo Fat Mo at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)