Job History

I was going through a bunch of college papers and such the other day and stumbled across an old resume that I put together for my college writing class. Given my current work situation, it was interesting to see that my last break in work was 20 years ago. I wanted to capture this info for posterity.

06/93 - 09/93	Ruff-Tuff Data Products	Delivery Driver
09/94 - 02/95	Cinemark Theaters	Concessionist/Ticket Sales
10/94 - 02/95	Identity Properties	Front Desk Clerk
10/95 - 02/96	Equifax	Authorization Agent
02/96 - 07/01	University of Utah-DCE	Receptionist/Front Desk/Lab Tech
07/01 - 01/07	Myriad Genetics	Programmer I/II/III
01/07 - 01/15	Partnet	Senior Software Developer

Gung Ho

Watched this movie this past week at Movie Night.

Side note: Movie Night is this great thing we've been doing with 2 of our couple friends so they're 6 of us in total.  On a biweekly basis, we rotate from house to house each couple taking a turn a picking a movie.  We start after the kids are in bed.  I couldn't tell you the original criteria for the movies we watch and it really doesn't matter since it's now down to whatever the host wants to show.  Anyhoo... lots of fun and we've seen a number of movies we wouldn't normally see.  Additionally, it's allowed us (Jo and me) to watch more movies than we normally would have.  These days, we rarely see anything that isn't animated.

So, Gung Ho.  It's been a number of years since I had seen this show, and it's held up rather well I must say.  Funnier now that I'm old enough to get more of the adult humor, and still applicable for the times.  Keaton is great in it and Gedde Watanabe is great too.

The Gervais Principle

Jeff, a friend on mine, pointed me to a blog post today (The Gervais Principle) and suggested that I read it.  It's actually a series of posts and I've only read the first one.  I've added the others to my reading list.  Some of the quotes that I thoroughly enjoyed.

So why is promoting over-performing Losers logical? The simple reason is that if you over-perform at the Loser level, it is clear that you are an idiot. You’ve already made a bad bargain, and now you’re delivering more value than you need to, making your bargain even worse.  

He knows his under-performance is not sustainable, but he has no intention of becoming a lifetime-Loser employee anyway. He takes the calculated risk that he’ll find a way up before he is fired for incompetence.

He is oblivious to the fact that the Sociopaths use Powertalk as a coded language with which to simultaneously sustain the (necessary) delusions of the Clueless and communicate with each other.

I'll post a bit more (or intend to) as I dive into the others.

What's in a Name?

I would think most, if not all, men my age will find the following conversation quite funny. Did I really just use the phrase "men my age"? Oh dear.

friend: random thing:
    me: k
friend: there is a new employee here at my work
friend: her name is sarah connor
    me: awesome
friend: i asked her... her last name is by marriage
friend: i told her otherwise she might have had the coolest parents in the world
    me: heh
    me: and a son who'll save the world
friend: yeah i did tell her that when she has a kid she has to name him 'john'
    me: would be tempting fate otherwise
friend: lol
friend: we've all taken to calling her by her full name
    me: like she doesn't want that on her conscious
friend: yeah you can only do so much to change the fate of the world
    me: "Is this the cube of Sarah Connor?"
friend: lol
friend: i know, i say that about everything
friend: no one calls her sarah, its always 'sarah connor'
friend: i ran into her in the parking lot the other day … 'is this the car of sarah connor?'
friend: she does at least have an updated hairstyle
    me: damn
    me: how many pullups can she do?
friend: only 10...
friend: behind the head ones
friend: oh wait, that was 'vasquez'
    me: ha! of course

2012 Election Eve

I've tried to keep most of my political thoughts to a minimum lately (primarily because I haven't felt like they were encouraging any beneficial communication), but on the eve of the 2012 election, I wanted to say a few things.

Regardless of who wins the election, I have no allusions that they alone will solve all our problems or drive us off the cliffs of destruction. The President does not rule the world, write all the laws, pick winners and losers, etc. I hope and pray that whoever is elected tomorrow is inspired and committed to helping lead this nation forward and will work to heal the divide that separates much of our society. I believe our country to have significant un-tapped potential and that the contentious differences that divide us as a nation threaten that potential. Working together, we are far more capable than we are as individuals, interest groups, political parties, etc.

As human beings, we should be able to bridge differences and foster common interests. We are more alike than we are different. As Americans, we should look at our nation's history and realize the dangers of a divided society. Encouraging division distracts us from addressing the challenges that face us. We need to come together rather than continuing to drift apart. Given the time of night... that is all.

Political Tests

I had a funny encounter with one of my more distant cousins at the family reunion.  He said I have a trustworthy face and should run for politics.  He asked if I had ever thought about it and said I should talk to another of our cousins about his political connections.  Knowing my political leanings and the fact that they're on the other end of the spectrum from cousin #2, I thought he (cousin #1) was joking.  The look on my face must have given away my dismay at his suggestion because he then asked me if I was a democrat to which I gave my typical response, "I'm a left leaning independent".  He looked at me like I had 2 heads for a moment and then asked if I've ever taken a political test to determine my position.  I hadn't and didn't think I needed to.  I took a few minutes last night to find and complete 2 such tests.  No real surprise in the results.

First one: http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

Second one: http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

Link to quiz results

Third one: http://www.people-press.org/typology/quiz/

Gas Prices

I just heard an interesting news story on NPR about why gas prices are going up. No, they didn't blame the President so settle down. Yes, the sanctions in place to hamper Iran from exporting its oil has lowered global supply, but it turns out the U.S. is actually exporting more oil than we're importing because of the low cost of natural gas in the U.S.  Additionally, they said a bunch of oil refineries have closed this year.  Quite interesting.