Category: politics
10/29/06 01:43 - 44ºF - ID#37388
sunday morning + psa
Public Service Announcement:
It's almost that time again where we tell our elected representatives what we think of them, and there are a number of very important federal and state offices up for election this year. The League of Women Voters has put together an excellent guide that should be required reading as far as I am concerned. Please read it so that you know what the Hell is going on before you get in the booth next Tuesday.
Positions up for election:
US Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) incumbent
NY Governor, George Pataki (R) retiring
(NY Lt Governor, Mary Donohue (R) retiring)
NY Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer (D) retiring
NY Comptroller, Alan Hevesi (D) incumbent
All three House of Representatives seats are up for election this year as well.
26th District (Amherst and points east), Thomas Reynolds (R) incumbent
27th District (West Side, Lackawanna, and points south), Brian Higgins (D) incumbent
28th District (East Side, Tonawanda, and points north), Louise Slaughter (D) incumbent
-- My Opinion --
I think everyone is entitled to their opinion, regardless of how wrong it may be, and we pay our politicians to represent our opinions. If I disagree with a politician because I disagree with his constituency, well ... for better or worse, at least he's doing his job. Lately, though, it seems that our representatives are more interested in promoting the soap opera of politics [and at a very bad time, mind you] than in, you know, running the country. If the country's in the shitter and you want to know who's responsible, I'll give you a hint - it's not the Republicans or the Democrats at fault - it's the incumbents.
This year, I think a simple vote of no confidence would suffice.
- Z
_______________
New journal music: Rasputina, 'The Mayor,' from 'Frustration Plantation.' gather:0607319001162147286
Permalink: sunday_morning_psa.html
Words: 424
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: work
10/26/06 08:00 - 42ºF - ID#37387
productivity is down
I've also found myself near the center of a number of poorly-conceived Vision of the Future meetings. Normally I dig Vision of the Future meetings, since it's a chance for Management to give us underlings direction and motivation. The focus of the meetings is We Need a Better Website, which I don't disagree with. Our online readership is, frankly, abysmal. From where I sit, the largest obstacle we're facing is that the website we have is just about as much [if not slightly more] than our current staff and organization can handle. If we want more, we need more staff and better organization.
I think we have two options. The first is that we can continue doing what we're doing. The website exists mostly as a byproduct of our daily operations, and as such, it really only needs a one-person web department and a small amount of cooperation from other departments. It is cheap and functional, and we're not going to go out of business if we keep it the way it is. If this is what we decide, I would only wish that we'd stop pretending small usability improvements and devastatingly grandiose gimmicks would magically net us a million hits a month.
The only other option I see is to 'go daily' online. We have 19 articles this week, and no new content until next Thursday. A certain competitor has 16 new articles today and more on the way tomorrow. And before you say I'm crazy to insist on nothing short of total organizational overhaul - Editorial is behind me on this one 100%.
So we seem to be having a meeting every week now. For fifteen minutes every Thursday afternoon, we have a premeeting meeting wherein we get our stories straight about what we're doing to follow up on miscellaneous ineffictive ideas. Then we sit at a table for an hour while the Boss shows us some keen websites he found, with the implication that we should be more like them [here is a true, honest-to-God example; I wish I were making this up]. Then there's a tense fifteen minutes where we try to regroup in a secure location [which is difficult to do in a blind rage] and spend fifteen minutes calming down by deciding what we're actually going to do before the next meeting.
It's fucking ridiculous, really, that we have to secretly plot how to be productive and organizationally successful.
- Z
Permalink: productivity_is_down.html
Words: 461
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: putrefaction
10/19/06 05:48 - 53ºF - ID#37386
ghost stories from the fridge
There was a Ricotta tub in the bottom of the fridge that I didn't recognize. We often reuse containers, so it was likely to be leftovers. I opened it up, and it was kind of moldy and lumpy and stunk to high heavens. I didn't take a really close look at it, but it looked an awful lot like it used to have been Minestrone soup.
Minestrone Soup.
I can't remember the last time we had Minestrone soup. Spring? Fall?
But when I dumped it out in the toilet ...
it was Ricotta cheese.
- Z
Permalink: ghost_stories_from_the_fridge.html
Words: 142
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: weather
10/16/06 02:05 - 56ºF - ID#37385
attn photojournalists
2. The staff photographer is putting together a photo-essay on the storm. If anyone has any good storm or aftermath photos, send them to me and I'll pass them along.
- Z
Permalink: attn_photojournalists.html
Words: 100
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: food
10/09/06 08:04 - 63ºF - ID#37384
my coffee is...
OK, I'm going to go into milkfat shock now. Have a nice ev--
Permalink: my_coffee_is_.html
Words: 66
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: gadgets
10/05/06 10:33 - 49ºF - ID#37383
synchronicity
Just then, I got a text message:
10/04/06 07:58 pm
From: 36245
guest@estrip.org
()thats so stupid
So I said ()amen brother amen even my phone agrees
- Z
Permalink: synchronicity.html
Words: 132
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: fightin' the power
10/04/06 01:35 - 65ºF - ID#37382
i am a genius
Next time you get a parking ticket -
chill out. It's not a stupid waste of your time and money - it's a $32 permit to park anywhere you want within the city limits. Pay the ticket online. There will be a $2 surcharge, but think of it as an investment. When you pay online, you get to keep the ticket and the obnoxious orange envelope, which you can then stick under your own windshield the next time you park illegally, thus saving Buffalo's Finest the trouble.
You're welcome. And, as with any free legal advice, don't try this at home.
- Z
Permalink: i_am_a_genius.html
Words: 116
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: tv
09/30/06 10:07 - 49ºF - ID#37381
channel 420?
I got an AIM from (e:dragonlady7) one day while I was at work; she had taken some heinous cold medicine and it was getting on top of her. I directed her to a couple episodes of Krentz and the Hand of Shame and another one called Ptikobj . Her response was something like, "That shit is freeky."
When I was at college, I was awakened very early one Saturday morning when I heard my roommates laughing their asses off downstairs. I came downstairs, still half asleep, and, well- this was the first time I had actually seen an episode of Teletubbies. Technically we were all stone cold sober, but at 7am that shit is way freeky.
Also on the list:
The Turkish Star Wars (e:zobar,108)
Pink Panther cartoons
Fantasia
Hatten Är Din
Teen Girl Squad
It would end up being heavy on cartoons, so it would really cater to anyone whose attention span is shot [cf: children]. With a complete story arc [if you could call it that] expressed in under five minutes, and a new disconnected thought every 45 seconds, it's just not about thinking. Except when we take a whole afternoon to bring you: curling tournaments!
We would strive to keep overt drug references to a minimum. Cheech & Chong is out. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is in, but only because it is an extremely well-made movie from an extremely well-made book, and also, that shit is freeky.
OK, I gotta get back to work. My project is going pretty well, so mos def we'll be at the housewarming party.
- Z
Permalink: channel_420_.html
Words: 363
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: work
09/28/06 10:53 - 49ºF - ID#37380
the gulag archipelago
I have also promised Management that I will return Monday with my shield or upon it; this does not bode well for my attendance at the housewarming party. The question is not whether I will be there -- I will -- but when.
- Z
Permalink: the_gulag_archipelago.html
Words: 177
Location: Buffalo, NY
Category: music
09/21/06 11:44 - 51ºF - ID#37379
the gospel of judas
The point being, I've become a bit of a closeted Bob Dylan fan lately, so I went out and bought the 'official' Royal Albert Hall concert recording (WIKIPEDIA - The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert). A watershed moment in rock music, &c., &c., of course, and I never realized that Bob Dylan could rock this hard. But if my man over here had not shouted "Judas!" at precisely the moment he did - symbolizing whatever it was he was symbolizing - and had he not been caught on tape - would anybody care about Bob Dylan's 1966 world tour?
Eh, don't worry about it. This is the most genuinely spiteful and venomous recording I have ever heard and I cannot stop listening to it.
Speaking of spite and venom, I have been feeling curmudgeonly lately. Why, just this evening I saw some lacrosse mom park her exceedingly large passenger vehicle in front of a fire hydrant on my street. Well technically she was endangering the lives of residents and a grandstand full of kids, but sometimes you gotta rephrase things in terms people actually care about. So I left a polite little note:
Deep thought of the day:
If I fire-bombed your car,
they would have to tow it
before they put it out.
Have a nice day.
OK, so I don't know what is involved in fire-bombing a car, but the point is that the school year is young and I want to discourage bad behavior in the pups before it becomes habitual. Also, I was amused by the imagery of a flaming car getting towed down the street so that they can get to the fire hydrant to put it out. I am an asshole, but I swear I use my powers for good and not for evil.
- Z
_______________
New journal music: Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone," from the "Royal Albert Hall" concert. Play it fucking loud.
Permalink: the_gospel_of_judas.html
Words: 372
Location: Buffalo, NY
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I think that all of the politicians in our locality will retain their seats. I am voting for Spitzer this time around.