One for the scrapbook...

"Daddy, what's this?"

"Those are your gums, dear."

"Are they Trident?" 

Spring has sprung...

and so has the tech in my house.

Last week, we finally got back our taxes (and the final tax burden; ouch!) from the preparer, and my wife gave me the go ahead to purchase my new computer. Apparently my old computer overheard the conversation, because when I got home, it had gone on strike. It was kaput, and the preview weekend for Guild Wars: Factions was just beginning. Damn. Luckily, I had GW installed on my laptop, so I managed to get a few hours under my belt. Very cool game.

On Saturday, I went out to CompUSA and picked up a new power supply after my wife told me there had been a power surge during the day ("...it was the strangest thing; the lights got really bright for about 5 seconds..."). Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. A phone call today told me that it was the motherboard that bit the dust.

Oh well. The tech from CompUSA tells me that the $100 diagnostic fee covers the labor to install a motherboard, so I just have to find a MB that can handle the AMD Athlon 1800. Off I go to PriceWatch.

Like a Bull in a China Shop?

No, that's not quite right.

My wife took me and the kids to Montreal for my 39th birthday last November, and I snapped this pic in one of those innumerable curio shops that are scattered throughout the Chinatowns of the world. There I am, perusing the many rows of wacky and tacky tchotchkes when I round the corner and see this.

Stretching nearly the length of the shop is a floor to ceiling shelving unit, filled with fairly elegant vases and jewelry boxes, hand-painted, golden highlights, the works. Despite the mass-produced feel to most of the products, it really was quite a remarkable collection of high quality trinkets.

Yet, smack dab in the middle of this whole display was this curious little dwarf, sitting on the pot, grunting and holding his nose.

Ah, now I remember the phrase I was looking for.

Like a turd in a punchbowl.

Perfect. 

This is Progress?

This article hits the nail on the head. Cubicles are evil and they suck the life out of you.

From the article:

If working at home is now part of the zeitgeist, one very large employer that seems increasingly tapped in is the U.S. government. Congressman Frank Wolf, a Republican whose Virginia district is home to many federal worker bees, has made telecommuting his pet project. "There is nothing magic in strapping ourselves into a metal box every day only to drive to an office where we sit behind a desk working on a computer," he told a congressional committee.

Wolf sees telecommuting as a way to decrease traffic, reduce air pollution, increase productivity, and frustrate terrorists. In 2004 he launched a campaign to penalize government agencies by docking funds if they fail to support telecommuting. Now the SEC, the State Department, the Department of Justice, and four other big agencies are required to offer every eligible worker the opportunity to telecommute.

A 2005 survey by Milwaukee's Dieringer Research Group reported that 26 million Americans use broadband to do work from home. Sales reps and consultants have always worked remotely; now finance people, lawyers, administrators, researchers, and creative types can too. Just as infotech has enabled companies to offshore white-collar functions, it also untethers Stateside employees from their cubes.

Coming to the office for meetings and in-person collaboration is still important, of course, but as Brand points out, "People are realizing they don't need face-to-face time all the time."

My commute is two hours at each end of the day, and I have repeatedly tried to discuss the telecommuting option with my boss. Each and every time the reply has been, "Your job requires you to be in the office." No counter-arguments to me being behind the keyboard more hours during the day. No rationalization of requiring my presence. Just the blanket statement.

However, I do know the real reason. Way back when, my wife ran the research department. One year, business was slow, and the raise/bonus pool was too small to give all the support staff decent raises/bonues, so as an alternative to actual cold hard cash, my wife negotiated with her boss (the CFO) two "work-from-home" (way before "telecommuting" was even coined) days per week for her department world-wide. Being the smart cookie that she is, she didn't settle for a handshake and the gentleman's promise; she got it in writing, and that turned out to be a good thing.

Not long after, as the administrative assistants started noticing the research department's frequent "work-from-home" days, they decided that they wanted work from home days too. Only, there's one problem. How can anyone in their right mind imagine for a second that an administrative assistant can support their principal(s) from home? How does one monitor the phone line and intercept calls when the principal is on the line? How does one pop into the office to take some notes on some urgent items that need to be dealt with immediately in person down the hall? Of all the professional roles in Corporate America, being an Administrative Assistant is going to be the last one to be freed from the requirement of being in the office.

Anyway, they nearly unionized in their effort to win "work-from-home" days, but management came down hard on them to end the effort, and I believe a few were fired in order to get the point across to the rest. However, what that has done is forever close the topic of telecommuting for every other department company-wide.

I'm a web-developer. I edit text files on a web server, with the occasional GIF or JPG thrown into the mix. With company VPN, integrated Inbox for voicemail and email, and broadband/wireless at home, I could easily be sitting in my living room every day from 8AM to 5:30PM; coding, debugging, brainstorming, and generally being seamlessly available to all my current "customers" just as I am now, as most of my interactions occur over the phone. But instead, I have to leave my house at 6AM and return at 6PM. Cubicles suck. 

Karma from 9/11 forever

My life seems inextricably entwined with the events of 9/11/2001. My second wedding anniversary left the country at war with an invisible enemy, my wife's friend of 10 years dead (on the 96th floor of the North Tower) along with a former co-worker of mine (a passenger on Flight 11), and the country in shock, disbelieving and pissed. For years, I've been getting the expected tsk-tsks from people who learn that 9/11 is my wedding anniversary, but today just adds yet another thread to the whole web.

Zacarias Moussaoui's trial for his involvement in the 9/11 attacks commenced today. The burden of proof? The prosecution must prove that his silence directly lead to the American intelligence and law enforcement community being unable to prevent the attacks. As any student of logic will tell you how hard it is to prove a negative, will anyone be surprised when Moussaoui is acquitted?

My youngest daughter turned five today.