writerveggieastroprof

Working Backwards from Tweets

Fri, 23 Apr 10 00:39:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

The problem with updating the social networks from my phone is that I have to be sure I do not write anything that will incur the wrath of my employers, much as I have experienced from the other side of the fence.

So in the student accessible version of the events of today, I could not admit that I had done all the work I needed by the time it was 4pm, and that all I did from that point onwards was not work related.

The same is true with having awoken at around 8am, due to the physical excesses of the past few days, in fact since the start of the month, and only getting to my first destination of the day at half past 11am.

@@ On the bus at the end of the day I watched a reunion concert of Scorpions and I realized that the lead singer looked a bit like Geoffrey Rush. And the drummer had no compunction about taking his shirt off when he had a huge beer belly. Their fans were a mix of young and old people though.

@@ At the basement food court of SM in the G4 area we saw a couple, not so middle aged, eating meat spread on hotdog buns that they obviously bought from the supermarket, along with a large plastic bottle of Coke.

It was definitely a frugal move, but at the same time I found it endearing. Who knows what their financial situation was at that time?

I admit to having done the same in the past, but not in a public place. Usually we would do that to eat the office or at home.

@@ I bought two Happy Meals from McDonaldâs, having determined that out of the five or six (am not sure) toys from the Pocket Monster line, that I liked the looks of two of them, the one where a penguin analog seems to be diving into a pool of an iceberg (at least that is how I justify it when it floats on a basin of water) and another is what looks like a jet engine with wings.

Both are spring activated by the way, which is interesting in how they were able to water proof it, although the second one does not work as well as I thought not even moving forward in the water, and the first one does not move at all like I expected, although it does move forward.

As I mentioned in the social networks, I do believe that they missed out in making all of these water guns but not making one out of the character that has the word squirt in its name, when most of the toys are squirt guns.

@@ I also tweeted about the movies out this week, The Crazies, The Losers and The Back-Up Plan, most of which are not must see for me, and therefore could be missed. I know there is another movie out there that someone could invite me to watch, but I will not mention what it is here.

@@ Earlier I did pass by the office of the former teacher in high school who is now the assistant principal for student affairs.

I asked her by text if she was in the office, and it was when I was already at the parish church that she replied, still fast compared to the times that her husband my former classmate received messages late.

So I got off the jeep and walked back to my high school alma mater that I had not returned to since the start of the last decade.

Session 3059 was able to pass on food given which was guilt ridden about causing to be excess. Class dismissed.

Seeing Things From Another Perspective Again

Thu, 22 Apr 10 23:53:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Yesterday I got to have lunch with the guidance counselor, something she has been asking for weeks now.

I also wanted to talk to her, as well as the mission office head, about my current and future status.

As it turns out though, she already knew because she was also approached about the possible replacement.

But what I did not know what the other people, maybe the students, maybe other teachers, maybe some staff, have asked her about me as well, and seeing as she views me as her immediate boss, a thing that I definitely do not feel or lord over her, she was of the mind that she had to defend me.

This goes all the way back to the denial of the car show and my non-attendance of the last two big college student events.

I appreciated the gesture, and I told her as much but I do not see how much good it actually did.

I mean, these people who were spreading these things around obviously had already made their own judgment already.

If they, such as the dean, wanted to hear my side of the story, they would have come to me in the first place, right?

But at the very least I did get to tell her about how I think the people around me were making it more difficult to work, such as I have already detailed here about the dean coming up with suggestions that for me were off the left field, and the secretary of the office of student affairs being blindly supportive of student activities despite their not being feasible and having hidden agendas, or just being manipulated.

@@ Something did bother me somewhat, when I told her about having talked to the heads (former president and VP last year) of the political party in school that was not able to field any candidates to the recent elections.

I told them that their actions of signing the boycott letter that was precipitated by not caring anymore about the postponement of the elections because they did not have any candidates in the first place, cost me my job.

The guidance counselor asked me directly if I told them that, and I said I did. Somehow, despite her having said she was my friend and that she was just being honest, that she still held back her opinion there.

I told her that I could not believe that after our one year of working together well that they would just accept all the one sided arguments that the student council of the recently concluded school year without asking them if they have talked to me about it before writing the letter.

He even told me about the sports fest complaints that they had, which they did not bring up during our meeting because it really did not help their point at all, and that is why I believe they had outside help.

Anyway, there really is not anything I could do about them within the bounds of decency, and even if I did not subscribe to those limits, there is no point about writing a public record of it here.

Session 3057 feels like the maid to be executed. Class dismissed.

The Vicious Cycle Strikes Again

Wed, 21 Apr 10 19:31:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Some people thrive on having a persecution complex. I guess we can trace it not just to the beatitudes where they feel they are blest or will be in the kingdom of heaven, but in the local TV shows.

Damn, maybe this topic is better suited for the student accessible version, but what will I write about here today then, something else, which means that I have to wrack my brain for a new subject?

Plodding on then: since the seventies, or maybe earlier, Philippine films with mass appeal and box office draws have more often than not been those about literally poor people who have been laughed at and exploited for their whole lives without any redemption except by a huge external story element.

By this I mean that they do not change their behavior, or if they do it is of the extreme negative way of killing off all of those who have mocked them because they have suffered enough.

Otherwise they seem to have been so much indoctrinated by the local writers and producers that if they just continue suffering, sooner or later they will receive their reward from some outside source.

In fact, if it were not for The Princess and the Frog, then this attitude of waiting and longing will be the same as all the other Disney Princesses in the past and their Someday-My-Prince-Will-Come variant ditties.

That is actually the subject of a tangential rant though, as for today it is a more third world concern.

My point is that people have to learn to actively start doing something to alleviate their miserable condition.

Right now all they want to do is keep slacking because they have seen their fellow countrymen actors in roles where their lives were suddenly turned around by some desperate situation such as their entire family being killed just because they accidentally happened to witness a killing by a rich and corrupt person of influence or some impossible circumstance where they start out being adversaries or argumentative because they come from different economic backgrounds and eventually fall in love.

It is even worse when you have already told the person what they need to do to get out of their rut, but they still maintain the path of least resistance, which is to do nothing or to maintain the status quo, and so they continue to invite ridicule from the people around them willingly, silently.

And sometimes this is not even about a financial situation. Sometimes this is about unrequited love, and here there is a little help from Hollywood and their long drawn out TV series which of course builds up the tension.

What they do not know is that in real life, not in forty four minute segments per week or per torrent, it is more difficult to remain in that state of not expressing your feelings to someone else.

And the longer that stays rooted in the emotion, the more protracted will be the moving on part when eventually, after a state of denial that rivals the duration of vote counting in this country.

So while the people are still in that situation, the people around them, particularly those that have already told them what they should do instead of wallowing in self martyrdom, remain in judgment.

Session 3055 wishes for a new kind of TV show. Class dismissed.

Non Student Reading Material

Tue, 20 Apr 10 10:39:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

I was not in school again today. That makes it two Mondays in a row, as if anyone is counting.

I was in the San Sebastian campus in the Carmel Ray Industrial Park One. It was only yesterday I found out there were two of them.

Sadly the second one was closer from my point of origin, so it was more of a hassle to travel longer to get to the first park.

It took two jeep rides, and one tricycle ride, and a long walk. This is because from where the tricycle dropped me off, it was a small metal footbridge over the creek to the entrance of Carmel Ray.

From there it was about the better part of a kilometer of a walk to the campus, strangely familiar in that it is one block of a building inside the campus, of only four stories. The only difference from regular haunts is the presence of minarets that made it look almost like the local INK churches.

The office of the dean made me think that it was actually less than a year old, there being two large wooden unvarnished bookcases against one wall there with one solitary binder at one side.

The area of the secretary to the dean and the clerk were just as equally sparse, not suggesting having been sufficiently lived in or more accurately worked in, without that much clutter.

After talking to the dean, I was told that I would have to talk to the school director. This, as I mentioned in the micro blogging social networks, led to some confusion before I realized that the social director was actually of higher rank than the dean, instead of the other way around I was used to.

I find this out how: from a tarpaulin on the first floor I saw, in the lobby actually, showing the faculty, staff and administrators.

It contained all in all thirty faces, from the school director, a priest, to human resources head. Faculty members numbered less than ten.

I made the mistake of opting for an off campus lunch. This meant two more long walks, and paying special for the tricycle going out.

But I was able to eat at Wood Bridge pizza for the first time in a real long time, although I did not opt for their thirty six inch pizza.

This was at Carmel Mall by the way. It was only in the afternoon, after sufficient nugatory responses to queries about what time I was going to be going to school that I found out that the school was founded in 2005.

They actually had graduates already, although probably not as many as we did during our first year, that pronoun being something I will have get used not to using soon, at least in this reference.

But they only had two hundred and sixty plus students, in maybe two schools, or disciplines, if I do not count arts and sciences.

And they have a staff house for employees to stay in rather than have to go the long route to work.

Session 3051 asked the social networks about being drawn to emerging, starting campuses. Class dismissed. April 19, 2010 Monday
Today we have a literally touchy subject. For those of you who may have seen my Tumbler account (I know that is not the correct spelling, but then I am just bowing to my spell checker here), there was one time I took a picture of my book purchases, but one was hidden under the others.

This was one that I left to the discretion of the viewer to discover from what part of the cover was visible.

But since this the student non-accessible version (at least I have been hoping so for the past seven years) then I can reveal what that book was and why I would not show it to those at my job.

The book is Unzipped by Anonymous. The tag line said it is proof that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Below that it said quote scandalous sex secrets: the very private journal of a public servant unquote.

Besides, it was only ninety nine pesos at the National Bookstore hardbound sale at the start of the year.

But to tell you honestly, the cover blurbs were very misleading. Okay, maybe not very but misleading nonetheless.

I, and probably several hundreds if not dozens or thousands of others, was expecting exposes about lust-fulfillment parties in the halls of the ministers, as this was set in the United Kingdom.

But that was not the case. It was just the very freaking arrangement of a minor political figure (minor in that he never mentioned about hobnobbing with any famous figures or the royal family, and that he was never recognized by his assignations) with his wife about fooling around.

That was the first indication that this was something that the ordinary person would not be able to relate to, or at the very least believe because it absolves the narrator of any guilt even though it was supposed to have been expunged by the writing of such a secretive and frowned-upon subject.

Next, there were no members only clubs, especially not with members were the rich and famous with unnatural tastes.

Everything that the writer did anyone could have been discovered by anyone else, in fact, it is very publicly available; the venues of the information and contact numbers being phone booths.

The only reason I could think of why the author would want to not want his identity known is because in his exploits he unfortunately savors both sexes, even if not expecting to do so; he did pay for it.

He does show a human side, that of falling in love with those he spends money for their services.

But very little of their side of life is shown, except how it relates to the purposes of his political party.

So in the end it is just a description that these kinds of people exist to be exploited for the right price.

Session 3053 could write something similar. Class dismissed.

Mondays as Weekend Extensions

Mon, 19 Apr 10 10:34:00 UT

Fridays as Weekend Starters

Sat, 17 Apr 10 10:32:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Guess what? I was not able to go to school yesterday again, two Fridays in a row I spent in Santo Tomas instead, again not by choice.

Last Thursday, by the way, was the second meeting of the different school representatives for the eco camp two weeks from now.

Sadly, I was alone and not accompanied by my co-chair engineer who was the one who told the eco champions by text about the meeting.

There was also the confusion that he before told me that the meeting of the tree planting program of the district would be two days ago instead of three. But then again I should by now be used to the inconsistency of this person in his text messages, and seek to clarify points I really need to know and verify.

But it would have been very convenient if I had been at that meeting where everyone else I needed to gather again was already present.

Sadly, there is most likely not going to be a next time when I can make use of that foresight in this context.

At least this time the secretary of the office of student affairs agreed to be at the meeting with me.

There were only five of us at the meeting this time, not like nine the first time around. At least the use of the board room in the office of the president was justified again, even though it was being fixed for the decentralized air conditioner. And I saw that the smaller conference room was being remodeled to be the office of the chancellor now, which is the new name for the chief operating officer.

We went over the four-day schedule again, going into more detail about the logistics and the things needed for the operations.

One of the schools present was the host last time that also used their caterers for the meals, in our home economics room.

They also gave the contact number for the same people this year, but they were foregone for the cooks this time around because our campus development officer and eco camp veteran did not like their food last year.

I just had to justify that it was because two midnight snacks were offered by the winning bidder.

It was also on that day that I realized a letter I composed in the middle of March was not received by the people I sent it to.

Instead I had given them a draft of a similar earlier letter that I had made, addressed to the partner schools instead of to the sponsors.

I was finally able to rectify that error, despite having that bad assumption they were the ones at fault for weeks.

It was not really too late, as even then the development, information and special projects officer made his own version of the letter I was able to send out on the same day with little revisions.

Yes, there is such a thing as having too much on your mind that some things get glossed over, I know that now.

Session 3049 really was in over his head. Class dismissed.

Worker Non Appreciation Years

Fri, 16 Apr 10 10:31:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

I am still talking about Wednesday. There is just that much to put down on virtual paper about what happened.

To be honest, while we were talking, I did not feel any veiled hostility from the one I had come to think of as my big boss.

That is even though when it came to defending my job, she foisted me off to the human resources head.

I really was amazed that I could look at her and see the same sweet person I had known seven years ago.

I guess some people are just more complex that we realize, although others cannot pull it off, and even when they try to be supposedly tough or somewhat aggressive, they just come off as straight out lying.

But I am digressing again, just as I have the past few days which is why I cannot finish this rant.

She even offered to help me with my paper, at least with the editing that is. And thankfully she did tell me that when a person enrolls in a subject and does not finish it, it is now an automatic withdrawal instead of a failure.

That is one fact that I am glad I have in my corner when I do decide to continue pursuing that degree.

Anyway, as I said yesterday, I was again put on the defensive, even about my decision to turn down part time teaching load.

I had to say about the landlady of the business space I rent also building residential studios, at the price that would only get one a bed space in the metro, further discounted by the fact that I have talked to her even before the construction has finished and before any advertisements or signs are put up.

I had to provide details like how big the place is, and how I would be able to take care of my parents now.

Then I was again thrown for a loop by being told that I should hold a housewarming with them the teachers there.

Really, I would need that reminder that I am someone you will not be seeing for sometime due to bad administrative decisions?

I guess it is as the director of the school of engineering said: they thought people are so desperate to stay on despite their being not really good decision-making employers that when they are told that the workers prefer to move on to attractively greener pastures, they are shocked.

So they think that they are still covered for teachers for the next school year, but end up lacking professors, because they are throwing out the competent people for the convenience of consistency.

They do not see how employees appreciate it if an employer sees their worth, not just in words, but actually fights for them.

And this is without the arrogance of seeming or believing indispensability, or of threats of negative publicity.

Session 3047 thinks this topic is done at last. Class dismissed.

On Different Planes If Not Dimensions of Logic

Thu, 15 Apr 10 10:28:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Going back to what I was discussing yesterday: was I supposed to wait for the road to clear and then follow the staff excursion.

Who knows how long I would have waited at that point? Most likely it would have been at least until midday before it was back to so-called normal, if not longer. I do not know; I did not stick around long enough to find out.

Instead I traveled the roads further south, away from the traffic congestion, and put it out of my mind.

But the way my immediate superior put it, it was the most logical thing I should have done, in hindsight.

I guess that just epitomizes our working relationship for the entire school year. Given my independence, I would not consult with her unless I was really at a quandary about my decision-making.

And then I would be blindsided from out of the left field with a question from her about something I should have done.

And I would be so internally flabbergasted that in my stuttering to defend my actions, it looks like I am just fishing for excuses.

But then again, it will never do to ask the boss if she is out of her mind, unless one is sure about being on the way out already, and I am not the kind to do something like that at that time either.

Going back to our meeting in her office yesterday though, naturally afterwards she asked me who I think my replacement should be.

I first said it should be our recent graduate board passer engineer and former student council president.

Of course that was shot down, as I knew it would be, because that guy has to concentrate on his Master of Science studies.

The same is apparently true with a current CS professor moonlighting as the faculty adviser of the student publication.

So that left me with one more name of someone with so much rapport with the students, particularly the student leaders, and is very opinionated about how things should be run with student activities.

This someone is all about asking what the thrust of our office is for the school year again, as if that is foremost in every decision that we make instead of just getting by day by day without burning down the school.

I wish this someone would accept the position, just so that someone else would do to her what she did to me.

Payback, as they say, is a bitch, and this is someone with lots of that just waiting in the wings to be remitted.

And even if she does not accept the position and just continues badgering whoever will take on the job, sooner or later she will meet up with someone who will put her in her place, that she is all talk and no action.

Session 3045 knows that being of a strike agitator mentality, working in the wings, is cowardly. Class dismissed.

Separating Work from Personality

Wed, 14 Apr 10 10:22:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Finally Iâm at school, after spending the first two days of the week out. I had the meeting with the dean earlier, postponed from yesterday as I had mentioned, I think. Did I talk about it?

Anyway, I was prepared to deliver updates on several of my pending tasks, such as the Eco Camp, the smoking ban and the school attire.

Surprisingly, that was not the topic but about my future. First of all, it was extracted out of me what I planned to do with my Master of Science studies, and some assurance was asked that if I do finish, I will return.

But as I said to the director of the school of engineering afterwards, if that is all it takes for them to take me back, then that means all the more that I will not finish it, to make sure they do not ask for me anymore.

Yes, I admit to being that traumatized. I would have expected this kind of still-friends-are-we behavior when I signified my intention of continuing, but not after. It just reeks of hand-washing and blame-pointing.

Like what allows them to sleep at night is the knowledge that someone else made the final decision about the career development of someone else, when it fact it was the poor evaluation they submitted to that person that pushed the cart over the edge of the cliff, so to speak.

So I was asked about the possibility of still teaching part-time, particularly since it is a computer architecture subject to be offered.

At the same time I was told that our recent graduate who is a part-time teacher and full-time programmer will not be teaching anymore next term. What surprises me is that when I talked to the head of the information technology office about passing on the application of another programmer I know of, I was told that that part-time teacher is being asked to be a full-time teacher, even though I do not know how that actually prevents them from hiring another CS graduate, especially since just last January someone else quit their offices and therefore there is another vacancy.

Anyway, this for me means that it is not really reliable to listen to what these office heads talk about outside of meetings, because it seems that they will twist the truth for their own ends, present case confirming.

I had to decline the offer anyway. I said that my concentration now is in the province to the south, and therefore not like at this time where most of my time is spent in this area, next time it will not be the case.

And that was when I gave the example of what had happened that made me miss the April 9 excursion.

Again the dean shocked me with her way of boiling down the situation into something that makes only perfect sense if it disregards everything else that has been considered at that point.

She asked me: So why did you not just follow to the excursion site after you missed the pick- up time?

Does she think I did not think about that? I was at one end of a ten kilometer stretch of road that had been gridlocked for at least an hour, even though it was reported by passing vehicles that the accident between a bus and a truck blocking most of the road happened at least two hours earlier.

Session 3043 will continue this narrative tomorrow. Class dismissed.

New Weekend Ending Day

Tue, 13 Apr 10 13:04:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

One thing I forgot to mention about the weekend in the student accessible version, although not on the micro social blogging networks that could be updated by phone, is that the people I was with who went to the anime con ate at Persian CafÃ© for lunch. Pita bread with cucumber dip/spread was so good and looked so nonfattening we never realized that we had ordered more than four refills already.

@@ Another thing, for the acquisition lists, is that I got Lego Batman for the WII at Data Blitz of Megamall for less than one thousand three hundred pesos, beating out Lego Indiana Jones for the WII and Lego Rock Band for the approval of my wallet (more truthfully, my credit card) for purchase.

@@ Ryan got an old 3D game programming book from 1995 with a diskette that is really not 3D but more of how to simulate 3D using maze games such as that Castle Wolf game against Hitler that popularized it.

I honestly could not remember anymore if I had that self same book, so I just let him get it, after all, it was on sale for a hundred and fifty pesos at the once exclusive Macro Minds store before all these computer books started sprouting everywhere, including Book Sale. I remember first using my preapproved credit card there, to buy another game programming book.

That was preapproved for the fulltime faculty of the school I was previously teaching at, one of the perks I liked.

@@ I do not know if I have already mentioned that it was Thursday last week that I last logged on anywhere, even though again I still update my status with my phone, although if there are any reactions I do not get to read them.

That means that all the online games that I used to frequent where I had to log on everyday to maximize the turns have stopped accumulating action points for me, having reached the upper limit.

And I do not regret it. Somehow staying in the spa is now more important, and more enjoyable. Okay, maybe it was the first reason second and the second reason first. Okay, not maybe.

@@ I also talked about movies in SM being way cheaper than in Festival Mall, and there are three SM cinemas that I know of that are one ride away from the place: beyond the prison, South Mall, and at the entrance of Better Living. In fact, it is four if I count the one in Sta. Rosa as being a ride away.

It really would not be such as bad thing to have a movie at a hundred and fifty pesos, if I knew the theater had been renovated.

But this is Festival Mall we are talking about here, that one film fan who lives nearby has already detested because their sound systems, supposedly digital, have been malfunctioning for years now.

Well, that pricing themselves out of the reach of the consumer as well as the purveyors of pre-screened movies now going door-to-door, or at least on the street hawking their wares, tolls their death knell.

But really, if cinemas die out, will no new movies be made anymore, or will all of them resort to a giant screen format and 3D gimmicks?

I hope it means the death of exploitative cinema, where no new content but rehashed story lines draw no more viewers.

Session 3041 is somewhat rambling today. Class dismissed.

The Lengths to Go to For Profit

Mon, 12 Apr 10 17:54:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

This is being written while in the spa, lying in one of the beds for most of the day with the laptop beside me, pecking at the keys with one hand inches from my face and reading the screen sideways.

I guess the toll of the past few days has caught up with me, as I said, having gone to several malls from four cities looking for supplies and displays that will improve the appearance of the place of business.

The two farthest places, according to Google Maps, are 75 kilometers apart. That is from here {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=13.9547259&lon=121.1630845&z=16&l=0&m=b} to here {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.6194648&lon=121.0503942&z=18&l=0&m=b}. Do I want to do an actual kilometer count of the travel, since I ended up in the same place anyway, here, {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.1007053&lon=121.1471683&z=18&l=0&m=b} from Thursday night to Sunday night?

No. That would be too much. But I will say that some of the stops were in Carmel Mall, {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.2132397&lon=121.1103255&z=18&l=0&m=b}, Lianaâs Mall {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.2133437&lon=121.1505264&z=18&l=0&m=b} Walter Mart Crossing {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.202449&lon=121.1536002&z=18&l=0&m=b}, Festival Mall {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.4173072&lon=121.0405397&z=16&l=0&m=b} and Megamall {http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.584248&lon=121.0571909&z=16&l=0&m=b}. Was it a full weekend? You bet.

Lotions were bought, talcum powder, soaps, as well as several strange new drinks never before seen anywhere else, plus the card game already mentioned in the student accessible version as well as some other toys.

Of course that also includes a few plain shirts, since I was in the area for longer than I had anticipated without getting to go home.

Whatâs ironic about that part: the pair sold at the big mall was actually of a lower quality than that sold at the small retail shop of a neighboring city that did not have that big mall at the same price. Less overhead I guess.

Actually, since I had no idea how long it would be before the accident near Yakult would be resolved, I had to have at least a change of clothes for one more day. I had hoped that by then the roads would be cleared.

Of course it was, because it is by then Monday and I was able to go to Festival Mall on Saturday.

I really ought to mention that the farthest place I went to was actually for a sideline business of one of my employees, in fact my new manager.

He wants to make his own perfumes, alcohol and fabric conditioners. I guess it is better to go there for him than for him to force to go there on his own, and have that as time away from work.

Although he already has the next few holidays planned out where when he is going to be leaving the spa and buying more stuff for his counter top business, such as Labor Day (when we will not be closed but I will be honoring my employees with free food) and the nationwide elections.

For now, we have a seventy-thirty agreement since he needs capital from me to be able to get it off the ground, and most of what he is selling the spa needs anyway.

Session 3039 likes this mutual beneficence. Class dismissed.

I Forgot to Mention Fatal Attraction

Sat, 10 Apr 10 12:27:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Was it the movie The Temp with Lara Flynn Boyle and Timothy Hutton that was like The Crush with Alicia Silverstone, but in a work setting?

That was a corporate setting though, with one of the main plot points being a clear line of promotion where the rivals to the position were one by one dying off which showed a clear goal for suspicion.

Of course if it were just an infatuation between a small time business owner and one of the workers, it would not make such an exciting story that would pull in the adult male demographic, would it not?

It would then just be a sad romantic movie about how men abuse their power over women, even in the work setting.

The only way to bring back the male viewers would be to show a little more skin that the story warrants.

But I digress, very distantly. What I am trying to point out is that there is hardly any big screen advice on how to deal with this kind of situation, especially if the boss does not ask for the attention.

What if the work is informal enough that they just usually sit around most of the day waiting for clients to arrive, and therefore have a lot of time to shoot the breeze? Add to that, what if part of the job is that the boss has to evaluate the therapeutic touch of the employee, allow her to touch his body?

Most of the time it is easy enough, that there is some other reason that can be used for the employer to terminate the employment, such as asking for too many sick days, or swiping off the counter funds.

But what if there is no other rationale apparent â in fact, in all other aspects the work is exemplary and the employment continues?

At the same time, the lines between boss and worker are blurred, at least in the eyes of the employee, and assumptions are made based on answers to questions with hidden meanings or those that are not directly answered with yes or no.

Also, attempts at avoiding further contact that can be misinterpreted as continued flirting or deepening of the relationship just leads to assumptions of playing hard to get, instead of what they really are.

Yeah, it all sounds so general, again having been taken up in aspects in movies like The Crush and Swim Fan.

But how does one deal with it in real life, without having to resort to murderous violence (I mean for the obsessed person, not for the victim). Are there any such cases of these that end amicably and not in the mental ward?

Does one have to rely on hidden cameras and constant video to be able to claim that nothing one done to provoke the situation and that it was all really just an exaggerated reaction of one party?

Is it really not going to work to just say: listen, I do not like you in that way, so please stop with your ministrations because it is really not appreciated and will not lead to the reciprocation you seek.

Of course I think in dealing with these people keeping to words of a few syllables would go down easier.

Session 3037 hopes people see that the last sentence was an attempt at a joke. Class dismissed.

Pantheon, Panthe-Off

Thu, 8 Apr 10 16:29:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

I just realized that what I wrote in the student accessible version today about Clash of the Titans may already qualify as the rabid ranting of a fan, except that this is not comics or some fantasy novel, but classic Greek mythology.

I guess if there is something to feel that strongly about, it should be the classics right, just like the fans of Jane Austen novels.

These words have survived for decades and scores if not centuries, and they should not be tweaked.

Sure we have a modernization of a Shakespeare play every once in a while, but it still treats the source material reverently.

If they were to do that with the Greek gods, then they would be the modern counterparts of CEOs, televangelists and celebrities today, who, for all their money and power and influence, still act human.

Allowing for the bastardization of old world literature in the first place is what has Bram Stoker turning in his grave right now.

So much for the undead and the powers of darkness being feared anymore; it is now dreamed of with wistful sighs.

But anyway, back to the writings of bygone eras, done right, it gives us a peek at the conventions of the time.

Maybe it would be cool to have something like Shakespeare in Love, but starring one of the writers of the Greek plays, like Homer.

That would also take the name back from being only associated by the younger generation with that bumbler from The Simpsons.

I remember when Troy came out (which was completely devoid of any Greek god appearance) there were sniggers in the classroom when the teachers discussed who wrote it and the Odyssey.

Now the Iliad and the Odyssey would be a perfect example of how to show the gods of the old times literally playing chess with the lives of men.

Damn, I feel that I should reserve the above writing for the student accessible version, but right now, I do not feel like doing the students that kind of favor that they most likely will not appreciate.

Besides, with tomorrow being a holiday and me being off campus until Saturday, when will that be posted?

Then that gives me the additional worry of looking for something else to write about for today, such as the unpredictability of employees when left to their own, instead of working together like they show when the boss is around.

Sadly, for that topic right now I do not want to go much further than just mentioning it like I did.

It really does seem like I will be trading in my kid gloves for real ones more and more, where I train actual workers instead of those being forced by their parents to get a not-so-suitable degree before being told to get a job.

Session 3035 knows this is just partly rambling, but not all writing has to be pretty or funny. Class dismissed.

Workplace as Lecture Hall

Wed, 7 Apr 10 17:30:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

They say that if you lent a person twenty bucks and you never see that person again, that it is well worth it.

But I say if you can get rid of that person even before he borrows money from you, all the better.

Partly it is about cutting your losses, the above saying. It is also about knowing what it is worth to you to be able to get rid of those who you do not want to hang around you. Hmm, there might a movie in there somewhere.

As for my version of it, it assumes that you will be able to glean from other people what this person has done in the past, and refrain from falling into the same trap. After all, someone that codependent will not have that many friends in the first place, but must disillusion folks at an alarmingly fast rate.

From my experience, unless you are already hanging over a cliff holding on to dear life, there is no situation desperate enough where you have to deal with these people. You are better off falling.

Okay, enough of a pretext or precursor, or preface, one of those words with the prefix meaning before.

Again I am talking about employees, who usually are the ones in such a dire state of need in the first place that they will do anything to get a job they may not be suited for, then once there try to talk the employer into giving them more than their proper compensation with a promise of future services.

A business owner has to be able to determine if the money that such a troublesome worker brings in is enough to make up for the losses incurred due to their behavior. And sometimes a full investigation is not forthcoming, or in its duration there may be more losses and less productivity.

Just like a classroom, sometimes it is better to start of with more and better rules of governance with a new set of students at the start of the next term, except with an employer, the end of the term is when he decides it.

Then the new standards of operation can be discussed with the next batch of employees, and hopefully they accept it.

Otherwise, there are surely those who are waiting in the wings for an opportunity to work and get paid.

Except that with employees, good ones are very difficult to groom and build up loyalty in, especially if previous employers or the trainers themselves cultivate in them the sense that if they do not like the way things are going in one branch, then they can opt to be transferred to another.

They do not seem to see that getting a good reputation at one place means a lot of return business.

So in that sense it is not like a school, because the boss has to find constructive mutually beneficial ways that the workers will stay on and keep performing well, such as a seniority bonus, besides promotion.

Maybe, in fact, an academic setting analogy is only at best marginally applicable to the real world work place.

Session 3033 sees the last sentence could mean everything written here was then for naught. Class dismissed.

A Useless Appendage

Tue, 6 Apr 10 15:20:00 UT

Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

I may have written what was supposed to be intended for here in the student accessible version, because all I can think about right now are things that I want to post there as well, where what I did write there for today would have been placed here a few months ago because of its viciousness.

@@ Speaking of ferocity, sure the net is all about self expression, but lashing out at almost everybody and not in a well written way at that, especially given how the near subtlety of having general posts (and not directly to the wall of the intended ear, or eye) is easily lost, not a good sign.

Maybe you should unplug for a while, and concentrate on more physical outlets to your aggression.

And that includes thinking every potshot of every person posting out there is about you. Everyone has their own misfortunes. You are so vain you probably think this post is about you. But this time you will be right.

@@ Now seems a good time as any for me to outline the reasons of why I was not in the last major activity of the student council.

First of all, I had already denied it, but I was overruled by the dean, who saw it fit to change her mind after backing me up.

Second, the students had the right to change their mind, moving the activity again from the last weekend of February to the second weekend of March, where it definitely conflicted with another activity I had already set.

So barring that everything else in my calendar became clear, which it did not, as no one could buy the ticket I had already gotten for that previous, I was supposed to make them and their nebulous schedule my priority.

Still this illustrated that everyone had the right to change their mind, except for me, because what the students had pushed and what the dean agreed with them on is that once I signed approval of the activity, I had to go through with it, even though I was reluctant enough to write it in a letter.

If I had been there would I have been able to stop the rain? Well, still keeping my School of Witchcraft and Wizardry credentials secret, then the answer to that is I could not, so it would have been pointless.

Would I have pushed the students to continue as soon as possible instead of delaying as long as they did?

I would have, but the final decision would still have been on them, with the additional resentment that there I was gloating over their mismanaged event and now telling them things they should have thought about in the first place. And part of me would have given all that criticism.

The other part of me would just have stood in one corner ignoring all the bad happenings, clearly still washing my hands of the event because I was against it in the first place. Would that have been better than not being there at all? Maybe, but the input from me would have been the same.

Would they have asked me for help? They did not, because I did not receive a text at all that night, so my presence there would not have made any difference really, as things probably would have proceeded as they did.

Session 3031 just realized that that sort of boycotting fits the definition of passive aggressive behavior. Class dismissed.