3.21.99
I'm back from Kauai. This was a more introspective trip than many others were. Had a lot of time to stop and smell the proverbial roses, to sit and think about the meaning of life; that kind of shit. One has to do that on occasion, just to make sure that the steady and even keel is maintained.
Who am I trying to convince?
Job=sharp downturn. It seems that jobs are like the weather. Everyone bitches about them but few do anything about it. I am certainly on the top of that list right now. On Monday, we had one of our interminable staff meetings, complete with a board of senior officials lining the front of the room. First order of business? The CEO/President of our happy little .org stood up and informed us that our money situation had only improved slightly, and that we were no longer running in the "red," but were just barely making the "black." That's good news, I guess, but where she went from there slackened all of our jaws, and dumbfounded us one and all.
She said: "We should be happy that we all have jobs." Huh? Thinly veiled threats in a staff meeting? What the fuh? They are not going to replace any people that leave, nor are they contemplating replacing the five or so that we are already down. In fact, if my calculations are right, we are poised to lose about three more staffers because they're pissed off enough to leave without regard to the consequences. I wish that I could give 2 weeks notice and walk, but unfortunately, my money situation requires me to work without much of a break. Like most typical residents of this state, I have no appreciable savings, and am in debt up to my tight little white ass.
So, I stay. That was one of the things that I thought about during my Kauai interlude. I did have my good friend, Todd with me, so there was more to talk about, more experience to share with him. One thing we did was to go out in search of a nudie beach. Kauai is supposed to have two notorious beaches, Donkey Beach, and Secret Beach. We were warned that Secret Beach was not a safe place to be with a rental vehicle, so we did not venture there. Donkey Beach, however was quite a different story. It was a lovely, white beach, nearly inaccessible, since there was no road. In fact, to get there, one has to park on the highway, trespass through what used to be a sugar cane field and ford a small stream. All in all, about a 1-mile hike across unlovely terrain.
T. said that since it was a nudie beach, we should get naked. He proceeded to take off his shirt…he's been doing a little too much time at the gym. I couldn't complain. He's easy on the eyes. The unfortunate fact of this nude beach was the fact that we were alone on it, except for a couple of vacationing software designers from a "Large firm in Redmond, Washington" Hmm. I wonder whom they might work for? Some nerd-boy named Gates, maybe?
Back to the introspective nature of my trip…I've had an epiphany of sorts, and have decided to embark on a journey of self-discovery. It's a very private trip, and one that I'm not sure that I want everybody to know about. I'm going to have more discussions on it later, but I think the time is right for a change in my brain. Again, like all of my other plans for my Internet future, don't hold your breath. My plans are wide and broad reaching; my time however is quite limited. The combination can be fatal.
Next week, I'm off to Hilo for fun in the rain again. Hilo is always a pleasant trip for me to make so many old buds there to pass the off-duty hours with. After that, I'll be in town for a week before hopping off to Maui for a week of hellish work (Yup, 5 days away from my bed…I should be in a positively sterling mood by Friday.) A hui hou.
Who am I trying to convince?
Job=sharp downturn. It seems that jobs are like the weather. Everyone bitches about them but few do anything about it. I am certainly on the top of that list right now. On Monday, we had one of our interminable staff meetings, complete with a board of senior officials lining the front of the room. First order of business? The CEO/President of our happy little .org stood up and informed us that our money situation had only improved slightly, and that we were no longer running in the "red," but were just barely making the "black." That's good news, I guess, but where she went from there slackened all of our jaws, and dumbfounded us one and all.
She said: "We should be happy that we all have jobs." Huh? Thinly veiled threats in a staff meeting? What the fuh? They are not going to replace any people that leave, nor are they contemplating replacing the five or so that we are already down. In fact, if my calculations are right, we are poised to lose about three more staffers because they're pissed off enough to leave without regard to the consequences. I wish that I could give 2 weeks notice and walk, but unfortunately, my money situation requires me to work without much of a break. Like most typical residents of this state, I have no appreciable savings, and am in debt up to my tight little white ass.
So, I stay. That was one of the things that I thought about during my Kauai interlude. I did have my good friend, Todd with me, so there was more to talk about, more experience to share with him. One thing we did was to go out in search of a nudie beach. Kauai is supposed to have two notorious beaches, Donkey Beach, and Secret Beach. We were warned that Secret Beach was not a safe place to be with a rental vehicle, so we did not venture there. Donkey Beach, however was quite a different story. It was a lovely, white beach, nearly inaccessible, since there was no road. In fact, to get there, one has to park on the highway, trespass through what used to be a sugar cane field and ford a small stream. All in all, about a 1-mile hike across unlovely terrain.
T. said that since it was a nudie beach, we should get naked. He proceeded to take off his shirt…he's been doing a little too much time at the gym. I couldn't complain. He's easy on the eyes. The unfortunate fact of this nude beach was the fact that we were alone on it, except for a couple of vacationing software designers from a "Large firm in Redmond, Washington" Hmm. I wonder whom they might work for? Some nerd-boy named Gates, maybe?
Back to the introspective nature of my trip…I've had an epiphany of sorts, and have decided to embark on a journey of self-discovery. It's a very private trip, and one that I'm not sure that I want everybody to know about. I'm going to have more discussions on it later, but I think the time is right for a change in my brain. Again, like all of my other plans for my Internet future, don't hold your breath. My plans are wide and broad reaching; my time however is quite limited. The combination can be fatal.
Next week, I'm off to Hilo for fun in the rain again. Hilo is always a pleasant trip for me to make so many old buds there to pass the off-duty hours with. After that, I'll be in town for a week before hopping off to Maui for a week of hellish work (Yup, 5 days away from my bed…I should be in a positively sterling mood by Friday.) A hui hou.
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