This place is still here?

Wow. What a mess. Empty seltzer cans, pastrami sandwich wrappers, and it hasn't been dusted in AGES. It's like someone abandoned the place, and it was too low-rent even for the squatters.

I suppose I should pick up a bit around here, but...

So where the heck have I been? Facebook, mostly, but up way, way past my eyebrows in work. When we last bloggified back in March, it was Passover. Now it's almost Rosh Hashana. I'm starting to feel like a three times a year blogging Jew.

While the world has moved on to critical topics of the day like:

• how the Tea Party is the home for Nazi Skinhead KKK Rich White European Male Neanderthal Troglodyte Homophobic Dumb Redneck Mean People (TM)
• any oil leaking (including teenage pimples) and uncleaned up is clearly the work of racists hating on the President, and we all know it's Bush's fault
• Brett Favre has retired. Brett Favre has unretired. Brett Favre has retired again. Brett Favre has...
• The US economy is as strong and vibrant as ever, assuming you meant as strong and vibrant as the economy of Burkina Faso.

I, on the other hand, have been buried in the details of launching an e-learning program across an organization that now boasts 42,000 employees and about 10,000 docs.

Oh - did I mention that we launched the first piece of content in early June, and we've had over 14,000 successful views since then? Did I mention that they still have me doing a million other things besides? So the short answer to the blogging conundrum that has bedeviled all of my legions of fans (yes, both of you) is that I'm too bloody tired to blog, and short of interesting things to write about. Not that this ever stopped me before, but...

Anyway, I take my lead as usual from the Master Possum hisself, and if he can not-blog, so can I.

New math

Overloaded day + lack of sleep + overstuffed sinuses + no weekends (Thanks Hebrew Calendar!) = 1 extremely spaced-out Dan.

I need several naps.

Eventful week

Back & forth to Cleveland, OH for a wedding, which was nice. Drive home not so much, though we stopped both at an outlet location (five new pairs of work pants for about $100) and a new kosher Indian place in NJ. Neither of which made up for 12 hours in the car. And may I say I hope the leadership of the Pennsylvania DOT suffers eternal damnation of a particularly heinous, traffic-related type.

Weird doings here at work, of which I can say little. Works much in my favor, admittedly, but these doings make assumptions that may be unfulfilled by the HR powers that be.

Oh, and the work email servers done blowed up real good - it's about 10 days and they're still trying to resolve the problems. Guess the Squirrel running the generator finally got PO'd enough and walked off the job.

I am back

from our Passover break, wherein again we traveled to the Southern Stronghold of the Washington, DC suburbs.

What to talk about? Matzah, potatoes, eggs, onions. It's Taco Bell for Jews (take the same 5 ingredients and mix in different ways.) Our hostess got sick at the beginning, I got sick (and pulled my back out) at the end, and a grand time was had by all.

Oh, and all heck broke loose at work, or it seemed that way if you were an ignorant troglodyte who never figured how to ask the right questions of the right people. IMPORTANT people need things, and nobody bothered asking exactly what they wanted. My last attempts (or frankly responsibility) for this ended last July, and in the end I have no idea what's happening.

C'est la guerre.

Lack of something

Not a real post here, more of a "yes, I am still alive" note. I don't actually know why the posting has become more sporadic - I've noticed this across the Axis of Weevil. Not that I'm a full member, and I think I might have forgotten to even pay my Associate Auxiliary Guest membership for this year.

It's not ennui exactly, and not that things haven't been going on, but a lot of what I have to say seems repetitive. The job still sucks, the country sucks even more, and my kids still don't pay any attention to me. Writing all of that once a month (or even annually) seems like it would cover me for a while.

I admit I spend a lot more time on Facebook, which may be distracting me from blogging. But overall I think I just don't have that much to say. I'm not disappearing by any means, but I may be kind of tapped out. I don't feel funny most of the time, or angry, or thoughtful. Mostly it's a lot of daily grind interspersed with yelling at the Rangers on TV (cf last night's blown 3-goal lead).

Like the job, I'm kind of keeping my head down in life and hoping not to get fired. I admit that's pretty pathetic, but that's where it's at right now. I will, however, take suggestions for subject matter. Offer up a topic and I will consider a reasoned, thoughtful post full of pithy, intelligent horsecrap.

Basic update

Life continues for the most part. Not much hope on the work front, but I'm in a better place and making the best of it.

Biggest issue is Dad is in the hospital across the street today for what I hope is a pretty standard, fairly minor procedure. Given what happened last January I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing, but it ought to be done within the hour and with God's help all will be well.

Frankly, I'm hoping he decides to skip next January - surgery is not my idea of a fun family ritual.

UPDATE: Mom called, he's out, doc says all went well, and I'm heading out soon to check on him. I'm feeling a bit better now.

I am

severely underslept. Hockey last night, followed by 45 mins of KP with the Mrs. to deal with stuff we didn't get to before, followed by a night in bed in the guest room with Junior so Mrs. could get some sleep. Needless to say, not the most restful nighttime I've ever had.

Happily it's Friday, the day after Christmas, and I'm at work when nobody else is. So there's a very, very good chance I can nod off at the keyboard without anyone bothering me.

Some might say it'll actually improve my work performance.

Let's see...

where were we? No place in particular, so this post should pick up the theme nicely.

I spent the day at Microsoft today, in a brainstorming session. I find these things kind of fun, if you're with a good group of people. Today's group was pretty positive - aware of the challenges involved in some of the ideas we had, but openly discussing them with an eye towards trying to make things happen. Now, if I had any authority, I'd be able to see some of this through. As it stands, it's more likely that this kind of thing will get lost in the shuffle.

There are other things going on that I will not jinx by discussing, but life is moving forward. I'm feeling more at peace with the direction things are going than I was a month or two back, and a number of scenarios are possible. We'll just have to see where things go.

By the way, it's good to be the king. Microsoft may be the great satan, but they do have some really cool toys to play with.

I am up to my eyebrows

in a major, major webcast presentation and the testing is not going well. Fortunately in the comments to my last post Valerie (who has a very nice blog, by the by) provided an important reality check.

Seems a classmate of hers from years back unfortunately passed away at a very young age. As it turns out, her classmate's brother was a gentleman named Michael McHugh. A random thing, except it happens to be that Michael was murdered on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center. And of all things, the 2,996 Project assigned Michael to me as a subject to blog about more than two years ago.

I had, of course, completely forgotten I had even done it.

I went back and reread my tribute to Michael Edward McHugh, Jr. As it turns out, not that long ago several people who actually knew Mr. McHugh had commented on the post. They seemed to appreciate my attempt at honoring a man I'd never heard of.

The internets is a funny place where random events connect total strangers. Occasionally something pops up to remind you that the daily grind of our lives can be pretty trivial when compared to other people's reality. So take a moment on a random November day to remember Mike McHugh, his recently passed brother John McHugh, and wish the family some consolation. It helps to put things in their proper perspective.

Lest you think

I have permanently packed it in, I am still around. The last batch of holidays concluded this evening, which is my excuse for not following up the last post.

I remain unhappy with my professional lot, but the rest of life is fine for the most part. The trouble with all the holidays packed in to a single month is... well, they're packed into a single month. There's not much time to settle down, and by the end of it we're all pretty sick of it. A friend pointed out we were at our synagogue (which is an offshoot of the main one in town, and thus only meets weekly rather than daily) 21 out of the last 29 days; when you consider we usually have services in the building eight days out of a normal month, that's a lot.

As for the other, I am resigned for the moment to where things are. I'm back to cranking out the necessary paperwork, and the phone is ringing a bit which is good. I admit I'd rather the Lord not tease me any more - if it ain't gonna happen, I'd rather not get my hopes up.

So I apologize for the overdramatic fit of pique last week. Last Saturday we read Ecclesiastes at services, and it's a healthy reminder that most of our petty concerns are fleeting and meaningless. This too shall pass.

Well, that's it

A perfect opportunity slips away, again. It was all but in the bag. "Hiring Freeze" is the excuse this time, and frankly, I've had it. I'm pissed off at God, the economy, the Wall Street jackasses who caused it, the elected schmucks who encouraged the behavior that caused the collapse, and at the current organization for putting me in this position.

I'll accept that God is trying to get a message across to me, but damned if I know what it is.

I am getting

extremely antsy about the situation that's developing, and I expect I'll be totally nutty by the time I can take any active steps to find out what's going on.

I imagine the Lord is making me sweat this out so I'll learn some patience, but I can't say I'm enjoying it. The paranoid side is waiting for the whole thing to blow up, the hopeful part just wants it done so I can proceed. Neither side is handling the wait very well.

There's a Jewish saying - "Hashem Yirachem" - God will have mercy, that is often used when putting yourself in His capable hands and trusting that He knows what's best. I've been using it a lot lately, and I mean it most of the time. Mostly I am accepting of this particular hand, but the potential for success is pretty high, and the failure of this one would be devastating.

What will be will be, but I admit that I'm not learning the patience part as well as I probably should.

Things are

moving in a positive direction. I don't wish to say any more at this point, but I am quite hopeful for the first time in a long, long while.

Updates will come if they are necessary - these things are a long way from being in the bag, and I'm horribly paranoid about jinxing them.

Do I need a change of scenery?

Maybe it's time the North came back to carpetbag - wall-to-wall, and believe me it'll be wholesale prices or better:




Group dangles $50K for Jews who move to Ala. town



Get that deep-fryer ready, Possum Papa, and be sure to clean out all the treyf. 50,000 smackers doesn't go far up here, but I imagine in Dothan, AL we can get a whole lotta corned beef to deepfry with that money.

On vacation

Took the family to Dorney Park/Wildwater Kingdom in the northern parts of Pennsylvania for a few days. The fact that it took as much time to get from Long Island to the George Washington Bridge as it did to get from there to Allentown, PA should give you an idea of NY traffic problems.



We still had a good day for the half-day we've been here so far. A bit of waterpark, a bit of non-waterpark, and all of tomorrow to go. I think oldest may have gotten a bit dehydrated, but I hope a night's sleep and the water we made her drink will help. So more park tomorrow, then off on Friday for a weekend in DC with friends, and by the time I get back to the office I will have been gone 10 whole days. I actually had a reason to check my work calendar tonight, and there's 50 emails waiting for me.



I didn't bother reading any of them.



There's other news possibly, but I'm too paranoid to write about it. Updates will follow if circumstances make it necessary.

Old, Fat, & Happy

That's my answer to the following question posted on LinkedIn:



What is Your Personal Vision and Ambition Statement for the Year 2020?



I'm sure there are better answers than mine, but there are a lot worse answers too.

So...

There's not a whole lot to report on around here. Junior grows like a weed, which is her job; the other two continue their fun at camp.



My problems of before remain as they were - more of the same, and precious little relief in site. A few things are cooking, but not to my satisfaction yet. The big issue now is morale, and finding a way to keep on an even keel. Some days are good, some are not.



Not much use, is it? Makes it perfect blogging material.

Dodged a bullet

The Odyssey, and its clunky transmission, are thankfully still under warranty. Three or four weeks later and we'd probably have been screwed. So they will call next week to set up an appointment to replace the whole shootin' match on their dime. Per the good Mr. Possum the replacement only has a 12,000 mile warranty, but the way Mrs. Skinny drives (in miles/year, not leadfoot) that'll last us two years.



By which point we may be looking for a replacement anyway, so it all works out. It made the $60 (!) I spent on a rental yesterday while they looked at it seem a bargain, though that's an awful lot for the Chevy Speck I rented. I'm still pleased at the results, either way.

Yuck

Cleaning out the garage is a reasonable activity for mother's day. Stuff to toss, a little organizing, right?



Let me say that the unexpected object I had to remove from a double stroller (which we had just offered to the expectant couple across the street, BTW) put a severe damper on the joy of a neat garage.



That object would be a late, former member of the family Sciuridae. The disgusting remains had damaged the stroller, so I had to Indian Give (can I still use that term?) and set aside the conveyance for conveyance to a garbage dump.



I remain extremely creeped out by the experience.

Want to meet a Hero?

Meet a hero.



Mind you, I don't recommend this as an idea to try at home, but the instinctive reaction by L/Cpl Croucher was to save his fellow Marines. What's the British version of Semper Fi, anyway?



Nice job son - you done good.