Writing is an act of self-revelation. Unfortunately, I’m at a bit of a point where I’m not positioned to reveal much of what’s going on behind the scenes just now. Perhaps someday it will come out in the special edition “unreleased blogs,” but for the time being mum’s the word. I don’t like being this quiet for this long, particularly on issues that are impacting everything else that I do… and I certainly don’t like how much it impacts my ability to find something to write about other than the issue that’s embargoed. For the time being, I’m going to try to be content with getting my thoughts together in other venues and preparing as best I can with as much information as I can get together. Suffice to say for the moment that other concerns are monopolizing my time. It will be a happy thing when this is no longer the case. I want swift resolution and to get the issue behind me as quickly as possible. In the interim, I’ll keep posting as the spirit moves me, but keep your expectations under control, as I don’t think there will be an epic rant posted any time in the near future. Here’s hoping January will be a better month than December has been.
Tag Archives: expectations
Managing expectations
Through most of my life I’ve never been terribly good at managing expectations. Or rather I should say that my expectations tend to swing wildly from puppy dogs and sunshine to the absolute bleakness usually reserved for 19th century poets. And all of this over the span of five minutes. Sure, I’ve learned to mask both of them fairly reasonably, but still, that’s what’s going on behind the scenes. You learn at an early age that if you keep those kind of thoughts in check you can save yourself a good deal of trouble in the long run.
I like black and white, the known versus the unknown. Some people seem to have a natural capacity or even a bit of a love for the unknown. I’m not one of those. It’s strange and different and therefore scary. Far easier to retreat back to the comfort and ease of what we know.
Maybe I’ve chosen comfort and ease for so long that it’s really all I know for certain and it becomes my default setting. Perhaps, it’s time to to move beyond that. I really don’t know how the rest of the world deals with the dichotomy between blind optimism and abject pessimism. If there’s a trick I’ve got to learn it, because swinging from pillar to post is quite simply exhausting.
Feel the power…
ABC News ran a feature tonight about the “greedy” power companies who were turning off the utilities of people who were not paying their bills. Of course they trotted out the usual suspects… The family of 6, the old woman raising her grandchild, etc. All they said of the companies was that they were stopping service because delinquencies drive up the price for paying customers. Yes, Mr and Mrs Dontpaymybills and all the ships at sea, that’s how it works in this country. We trade goods and services for money or the promise of money at some predetermined point in the future. That’s what allows us to not all raise corn and cows to feed ourselves.
I know I rant on this a lot, but I just have a hard time getting past the idea that our countrymen are surprised that they’re expected to pay for the goods and services they consume. I was raised believing that this country was about the right to pursue happiness… Not necessarily the right to have it. In economics, there’s a principle that everyone learns in their 101 class that says “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The consequences of basing an economic system on the premise that everyone should have a free lunch if they want one died off with the Soviet Union. Cuba stays afloat because of the tourist dollars generated from capitalist Europe. China’s Communist party stays in power because they have adopted measured amounts of capitalism and that trend is increasing over time.
But, you say the top 1% of earners are running away with the pie. It’s true that their part of the pie has grown, but the entire pie has gotten larger too. There are more millionaires per capita today than at any time in the history of the Republic. That doesn’t mean that these individuals have jobs making $700,000 a year, just that they were smart with what they did with their money. Get out of school making $35k a year, max out your contribution to your IRA and 401k, live under your means, and in 35 years when you’re eligible to retire, guess what… You’re a millionaire too. Work another 5 or 6 years past eligibility, guess what… That’s right, another million. Compound interest and long-term market growth are beautiful things, friends.
So next time you’re watching the nightly news and tempted to sign onto the bandwagon that all our problems are caused by the big, bad corporations, take a look around at the decisions individuals have made that contribute to where they find themselves. The Invisible hand doesn’t just guide the market up, it guides it down too. Get in tune with that and you’ll really feel the power.
Things I’m tired of seeing in the news…
1) The price of gas. Yes, it’s $3.20 a gallon. It is what it is. Instead of bitching about it when someone shoves a camera in your face, maybe you should consider trading in the armored personnel carrier you use to take Bobby and Katie to soccer practice and get something more efficient. Otherwise, suck it up and pay the bill, sweetheart.
2) The “outrageous” cost of healthcare. You’re paying for a service. If you don’t like the going price, find a cheaper service or try just going without and see how that works out for you. Some things are worth a premium. Living is one of them.
3) The stock market “collapse.” I don’t know what economics or finance classes you took in college, but I distinctly remember learning that the price of stocks moves in both directions. If you were so heavily invested in one thing (i.e. stocks versus bonds versus gold), you need to learn about diversifying your portfolio. The market is doing what it does. I didn’t hear anyone bitching when it was soaring past all reasonable expectation.
Returned to the fold…
They say you can’t go home again, but that’s not entirely true. You can go home again as long as you’re willing to spend the 10% restocking fee. At $40, getting myself right with BlackBerry would have been a steal at twice the price. The 8300 isn’t a quantum leap device. It’s a tweak here and a tweak there to make an already amazingly reliable platform just a little bit better. A few new features like the camera are fun to play with, but really, it’s the instant email, playing nice with Outlook, and a battery that lasts more than 7 hours under regular use that sealed the deal for me.
For you iPhone fans out there, I say godspeed. You’ve got yourself a fine phone with an exceptional browser, but if you’re serious about email and data, BlackBerry is the undisputed champ. Maybe it doesn’t have the cool factor that iPhone does with the phone geeks, but as far as I’m concerned, this is the image of pure beauty…
Less than good…
OK, so I went to see the Simpson’s Movie yesterday and all I can say is that it was a disappointment. I’m not some fancy big city movie critic, but so much of the movie seemed to be very forced and not particularly funny… except the Spider Pig part, which was still funny as hell. Making the leap from TV to the big screen has undone other great shows in the past, but I really did have great expectations for this one. I was sorely disappointed. Stupid great expectations.
Why is it so hard…
…to get a goddamned steak cooked medium-well? I swear to Christ, I can’t get a fucking slice of beef cooked right here anywhere. Next time I go out to dinner, I’m taking my own flip chart showing the “levels of doneness.” I’m not asking every place to be a damned Morton’s or anything, just to leave a very light strip of pink in the middle. If I can do it with my own limited cooking skills, surely people who cook dozens of steaks a day can manage it with something approaching consistency.
Every passing day reaffirms my complete lack of faith in the ability of the general populace to manage anything more complicated than breathing with any degree of accuracy.
I should have gone to grad school to be a hermit. I think I’d enjoy the lack of interaction.
A Rant in Two Parts…
1) Driving home this afternoon there was mass confusion on I-95 north. Typically such confusion is caused by one of three things, a) an accident, b) rubbernecking resulting from a recent accident, c) car fire. Not this afternoon, though. Today, the middle lane of 95 was clogged with a sub 50-MPH driving, flashers flashing, flags flying funeral cavalcade. WTF? The guy is dead, he’s not in a hurry to get anywhere and even if he was, doing under 50 on 95 is not going to get him there any faster. Would it kill you bastards to be a little considerate to the living. I’m sure Mr. or Mrs. X was very special to you, but even they would think you’re an ass for holding up traffic like that.
2) I had the apparently unrealistic expectation that people in graduate level classes would be able to write a coherent sentence. I was wrong. I was dead wrong. I’ve spent the better part of the last two hours editing a 10 page paper my “teammates” put together. Appalling is the only word that comes close to actually describing the grammatical carnage. I finally gave up after fixing the worst of it. If anyone is interested in reading the drivel these people came up with, please let me know. If nothing else, it should reassure your own sense of inherent superiority.
Hurricane Season…
For most people, the diminished expectation for tropical storms and hurricanes this summer is a reason to celebrate. Personally, I’m more than a little disappointed. Hurricanes (usually those Category 3 and above) are a 14-hour/day, 7-day/week vacation from my normal job. Of course, like anyone, I bitch about the long hours and the seeming lack of support from other quarters, but in the end, these storms are a chance to stand neck-deep in the national decision-making process and play with senior leaders from the White House, Department of Homeland Security, Defense, and others. They are a chance to work till you bone tired and still deliver. It’s a chance to make obscene amounts of overtime and I want to buy new living room furniture, damnit.
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