Planned Parenthood

 I'm sorry, but I feel I have to somehow respond to an email I just received.

Following is a list of services/information you can find on Planned Parenthood's website:

• Abortion
• Birth Control
• Body Image
• Morning-After Pill (Emergency Contraception)
• General Health Care
• Men's Sexual Health
• Pregnancy
• Relationships
• Sex & Sexuality
• Sexual Orientation & Gender
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)
• Women's Health

You may or may not agree with the complete list, but I would argue that you cannot disagree with all of them and that you most likely agree with at least one of them.  Regardless, please do your own research and information gathering on any and all topics before forming an opinion and passing judgment.  In fact, try to beware judgment altogether.

Oh, and please take me off your mailing list.

NBA Players and their priorities

Since today is July 1st (the start of the most important NBA free agency season ever with the likes of Lebron, D.Wade, C.Bosh, Amare, Dirk, etc), I thought it timely to make this comment. All these guys talk about wanting to win championships and that being their #1 priority. If that were really the case, these guys would sign for the league minimum and recruit other star players to play with them. The amount of money they make in endorsement deals far surpasses the money they get from the NBA, but as we'll see, it's not about winning. It's about feeding their egos and padding their wallets. It's no wonder I can't get too excited or too committed to the NBA and its players.

Cell Phone Etiquette

For everyone's benefit, please leave the phone out of the bathroom. I won't talk to you if I'm in the bathroom, I don't want to talk to you if you're in the bathroom, and I don't want to listen to you talk to someone else if I'm in the bathroom. When did this become socially acceptable. Ladies, help me out here. Talk to your men.

Thoughts

I sit here on this day thinking about so many things going on in my life. Trying not to think about work, but rather the important things in my life. I'm finding that I want to blog about these things as a way of sending them out into the world. To what end? I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it's just a way that I can get things out of my head, or if I'm hoping for an audience, or I'm looking for answers.

A year ago today, my son was born. My life is forever changed for the better. Not to say that life before Christopher wasn't good, but it has more meaning these days. Everything is seen in a different light. The trivial things I used to spend time doing, seem much more trivial. The desire to have those close to me, even closer, has certainly grown. My life feels simpler than it once was, but the joy in my life is overflowing.

I've struggled with who I should be writing these posts to. Who should I imagine is reading them? I think I've decided that I have to stop thinking about that because I think it hinders my willingness to write anything. In fact, I know it has hindered my writing. There have been, and still are, numerous topics floating in my head that I've wanted to blog about but haven't. Is that because there are people that I don't want to read them? Alternatively, is it because there are people that I want to read them (and might) so I want to ensure I say the things that accurately reflect my thoughts. Yes, there are people in my life that I want to read these, but I can't let that enter my head. I think the important thing is to write. My intention is to make a concerted effort to do just that.

Time to Write

Oh where does the time go, and how can I find some to write? Is it more important to write, or to write something well thought out and informative. I can't tell you how many posts I've started and then aborted because I don't feel like I can get my complete thoughts out. But then what happens is that months go by and I don't post anything. Another issue I have is that I have multiple blogs, this one and a "quote" personal one. Some topics are borderline personal so I tend to post them in the other blog because I want this blog to have a different feel.

Blog Comments

I've just recently removed the Comments section from my blog. Here's why.

Daily Quote

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
- Thomas Jefferson

Waiting on the World

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7765148

Why wait?

C Monkey

A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, "I'll have a C monkey please." The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fit a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, "That'll be $5000." The customer paid and walked out with his monkey.

Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, "That was a very expensive monkey. Why did it cost so much?" The shopkeeper answered, "Ah, that monkey can program in C - very fast, tight code, no bugs, well worth the money."

The tourist looked at the monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?" "Oh, that one's a C++ monkey; it can manage object-oriented programming, Visual C++, even some Java. All the really useful stuff," said the shopkeeper.

The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000. He gasped to the shopkeeper, "That one costs more than all the other put together! What on earth does it do?" The shopkeeper replied, "Well, I haven't actually seen it do anything, but the other monkeys call him the project manager."

Recruiters

So I just got back from my second interview of the day. Oops, did I just let that slip? Oh well... I'll chance it, and as I've heard, "Interviews are free". At the very, very least, this little experiment has forced me to update my resume. Anyway... recruiters. I'm not sure what to think. I think they make a lot of sense for companies to use, I'm just not sure why people looking for jobs use them. The arguments I keep hearing are:

1. They're in the business of finding people jobs
2. They can better represent me as a perspective candidate
3. Some companies only list openings through recruiting agencies

Do I agree with those statements? Well, let's see.

1. Yes, they are definitely in that business and making sure you know that seems to be vital to this argument. However, what are they really providing? It seems to me that anyone with any level of motivation and know how can do what it takes to get a job interview.
2. Of course, they get paid regardless of which job I ultimately take and they only get paid if I take a job. Now, I didn't say they get paid to get me the best job. It's in their best interest to find me a job as soon as possible. In fact, they probably hope for high turnover in the industry. Makes sense... more people looking for jobs and more jobs to be had. So... remind me again why they can better represent me.
3. Now, do I actually believe this? Why would a company only list a job through a recruiter? What benefit would that provide to the company? Granted the recruiter could perform some initial screening of candidates for the company, but why else? If they were able to find someone to fill a position without going through a recruiter it would save them money.

Maybe I need to meet with the recruiters and have them remind me again of what they're doing for me.