Glory

I refused to watch Grump's televised speech this evening, so how did I spend Pancake Day?  Well, I didn't have any pancakes - instead I had some popcorn and watched a 1989 film I had never seen before.  I watched the film Glory about a black regiment in the American Civil War.  A good war film - certainly good enough to move me to tears - but not quite a classic.  Even though it won awards it doesn't even appear in my "Guinness Book of Film: The Ultimate Guide to the Best Films Ever" from 2000, so I didn't have another film I could cross off this list.  Disappointing.  

More Politics

President Grump has proposed increasing military expenditure by 10%.  This money won’t magically appear from nowhere, so expect deep cuts somewhere (e.g. foreign aid and the environment).  Especially when he also wants to reform taxes so that the rich and middle class pay less taxes.  Expect the US to add substantially to its already immense national debt.  Utterly ridiculous – the US already spends nearly 3 times as much as China annually on its military, so why the increase?  Is the US planning another doomed war in the Middle East or Afghanistan?  I thought his only war was with the media!  If anything, defense spending should go down – it’s clearly already a massive money drain.  It’s contradictory even to his campaign slogan of Making America Great Again – there are bound to be cuts to some domestic programs.  What with his ongoing issues with healthcare reform (it’s no good even thinking of repealing Obamacare when you have nothing viable to replace it), Russian influence, immigration push-back and his utterly hypocritical frustration with the media and “fake news” – I hope everything he wants to do continues to be challenged and attacked.  There should be no easy ride for this wannabe despot and his cronies.    

Rugger

So, inexplicably, one of the sports channels over here has started showing some Premiership Rugby games live.  I'm not complaining - though I'd wish they'd show internationals rather than domestic games.  And why there are domestic games on during the same weekend as Six Nation games is beyond me.  But as long as they keep on showing games when all the best players are available then I'll be happy.  But what I've noticed is that the game of rugby union has evolved.  Now, it is a lot closer to rugby league with the various phases of play.  A ball carrier gets tackled, the ball gets recycled, gets passed away, and the next ball carrier gets tackled, and so on - sometimes ground is made and sometimes ground is lost.  There seems to be a lot more of this in the various recent games I've seen than I ever remember - more brute force, more rucks, less kicking and less mauls.  It's almost exactly like rugby league, apart from no limit to the number of phases and without the explicit stop-start nature of rugby league (though not far away).  I miss the messiness and scrappiness of how the game (in my memory) used to be.

Palace 1 - 0 Boro

Gasp, a rare home win for Palace - important result, especially for a 6-pointer.  They televised the game here, so I was able to catch the full 90 minutes.  I remain unconvinced that Palace are good enough to stay up, but I know at least one Boro fan reads this blog and I would be very worried about your team.  They were awful - especially in the first half, posing absolutely no threat going forward.  And when Palace sat back in the second half and they had every opportunity to push for the equalizer or even the win, they still couldn't capitalize.  So this wasn't so much Palace deserving to win as Boro deserving to lose.  The relegation battle is going to be a real scrap.  I fear especially for Leicester - the reigning champions lest we forget - with an unfortunate and desperate but necessary managerial sacking to have any chance of staying up.

40 Hours of Hell a Week

Simply sick of work at the moment.  No enthusiasm and no motivation on what I’m working on.  Disgusted by some of the recent promotions and organizational changes.  In particular, by the fact that almost everybody who I used to be on the same level as when I worked at the company before is now 1 or 2 levels above me (regardless of competency and whether they deserve it).  And also by the fact that a Chinese guy in my office who I don’t particularly like is moving into my therapeutic area and taking on exactly the kind of responsibilities that I think I should have.  I’m sick of the fact that seemingly the only way for career advancement here is to take on more managerial responsibilities – in particular more direct reports – and that is just something I’m very reluctant to do (my conditions for taking on new reports – they have to work in the same location and be Caucasian – will never be met).  There is no technical career path.  Yet, apparently, some people at my level do manage to get promoted even though they don’t have direct reports – something contradictory to everything I’ve been told by my manager.  And my base salary is still less than what I originally asked for when I re-applied for this job.  So, why am I still sitting on an e-mail to my manager’s manager which includes the following inflammatory lines:  ”I’d like to ask about the opportunity/possibility of changing teams and manager.  I’m unhappy with how I’m currently being utilized and managed, and I’d like to know if there is anything that can be done to change that.”?  Will it make a difference if I send it?  Everything I’ve experienced since returning to this job would suggest not.  I’m not prepared to suck up to the higher-ups.  I’m not prepared to work myself into the ground.  I don’t have the right color skin.  I just think this is a toxic environment – and it was probably a mistake to come back to this job.  But it is what it is.  So as long as they keep on paying me, I’ll be as least proactive and least busy as I can possibly be.  What a terrible attitude to work, and not one I’m proud of, but I don’t see any other choice until I find a better opportunity elsewhere – I won’t leave until I’ve been here at least 2 years and don’t have to pay back any relocation costs, which probably means I’m looking at this time next year after I’ve got my bonus then.  Of course, a lot could change (for better or worse) between now and then – but that is my current thinking.  This could be a very long year.

American-English 2

Here are the answers to the quiz I posed a couple of days ago of “British English” words with their “American English” translations:

Accumulator = Battery (Accumulator?)

Black Treacle = Molasses (Molasses??)

Chucker Out = Bouncer (Logical, but "Chucker Out"???)

Cubbyhole = Glove Compartment (Cubbyhole????)

Fascia Panel = Dashboard (Fascia Panel???????)

Pantechnicon = Moving Van (Pantechnicon?????????????)

Polka Dots = Chocolate Chips (Polka Dots in this context????)

Sponge Bag = Shaving Kit (?)

This is probably only proving how poor my vocabulary is and why I’m so useless at crosswords.

Nice quote that came out of the puzzle: "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one."

Contemplation

Gosh, it’s getting tough to write a blog post that isn’t me unhappy or angry about something.  This is probably reflective of the Trump/Brexit world we live in.  And probably also somewhat reflective of my feelings about life at the moment.  I’ve been giving serious consideration to a lot of big questions recently - such as is it too late to change my career and do I still want to live in the US?  (Yes and yes.)  There are things I can consider doing to make things better in the short term (e.g. improve my living situation by finding somewhere new to live), and in the medium term (e.g. try to find a new job).  But whether these address my concerns about my long-term mental (and physical) health and welfare I don’t know.  I have become very worried about whether I’ll ever reach retirement age in good health, if I reach it at all.  And that has nothing to do with diet/exercise, and much more to do with a lack of social support structure and a lack of life goals/purpose.  And this is part of the reason I’ve been giving very serious consideration to taking a sabbatical away from work entirely, especially if I struggle to find a new job in a location I want to move to.  I’m talking about living a year or two in a work-free, stress-free, relaxing manner whilst I still can – doing some of those happy retirement-type activities like travelling, getting out and about, engaging in hobbies and maybe even (gasp!) socializing more.  I think I’d like to use my savings to do that sooner rather than take the risk of my savings going to waste in my later years.  I don’t have the responsibilities of family or a strong attachment to my current job, which allows me to give this serious consideration – I don’t know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.  I suspect the latter.

Sunset

Sunset over Lake Union, Friday afternoon, a couple of minutes’ walk from work.

American-English

I've got an American puzzle book which includes a word-search where you are given a "British" word and have to find it's American equivalent in the grid.  Right in my wheelhouse you'd think, but some of the British words are absolutely bizarre.  So, pop quiz, could you get the following:

Accumulator
Black Treacle
Chucker Out
Cubbyhole
Fascia Panel
Pantechnicon
Polka Dots
Sponge Bag

I don't know whether I'm just ignorant, but I've either never heard of these or never in the context of the American word.  I'll give you the "answers" in a few blogs' time.

Procrastination

Procrastinating: To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.  To postpone or delay needlessly.

I did just compose a significant blog entry talking about the many ways I’m guilty of procrastinating.  But it was just a bit too personal and a bit too much of a downer, so I’ve just deleted it.  Instead let me just say that the bottom line came down to this: I procrastinate on not procrastinating...

Au Revoir Au Revoir

I saw the headline “Stars flock to Gorden Kaye’s funeral to pay tribute to ‘Allo Allo! Star” yesterday.  And it got me thinking, which “stars” would be attending the funeral of Rene Artois?  Sure, Yvette Carte-Blanche and Mimi Labonq would be there – but who else?  A bit like Dad’s Army, there simply aren’t many of them left.  I like to think that Michelle of the Resistance, Lieutenant Gruber, Captain Bertorelli (What a mistake-a to make-a!), Herr Flick, Helga, Officer Crabtree (Good moaning!  I was just pissing by.) and Fairfax and Carstairs were all in attendance.  And I hope he was buried with a copy of “The Fallen Madonna (With the Big Boobies)” by Van Klomp.  Classic.  RIP.    

Merit Increases and Bonuses

I found out today what my bonus and salary increase for this year was.  Sadly, it didn’t come from my manager because she hasn’t told me yet (thanks a bunch….).  Instead, I had to find out from inspectiing my pay stubs.  And if my “math” is right, then I am incredibly pissed off at the miserly pay increase being given to me (2.3%, very much on the low end for my rating).  This was considerably lower than what I wanted, but worse considerably lower than what I expected.  I should probably be grateful to earn as much as I do for as little work as I’ve done over the last year, but I have to compare myself to my peers at work and it appears that I am being screwed over relative to my ability and competency.  I’m already unhappy with my manager for her over-controlling and overbearing nature, so I think this might be the final straw and the push I need to insist on working in a new team with a new manager.  Time to arrange a meeting with my manager’s manager. 

Wet

I didn’t even realize this until yesterday, but Monday is President’s Day and a company holiday.  And how will I spend the long weekend?  Let’s look at the forecast for Seattle:

Great, I guess I’ll be staying in then.  This looks like being one of the wettest winters on record on the West Coast – it’s been quite bad here (this morning, heavy rain caused lots of mudslides including one that closed the I-90 – which is the big East-West freeway into Seattle, and made what is already a hellish commute even worse), but I think Oregon/North California have had even more rain (I read somewhere that there are places there that have had 400% more rain than normal for the year already).  I don’t expect water shortages to be an issue in California this year!  And yet we still have an administration that cannot accept climate change.  They’ll have to when the cost of climate change (flooding, fire, other increasingly more frequent natural disasters) starts to add up.

Lake Union

An utterly grey, wet, miserable day today – the prototypical day for why I wouldn’t mind moving back to sunny climes.  Made all the worse because we’ve just had a few days of relatively nice weather, which has seemed quite rare this winter.  So here are a few more photos of some views around Lake Union that I’ve taken recently on lunchtime walks from work on better days.

Valentine's Day

My least favorite day of the year – you shouldn’t need to set aside a single day of the year to tell/show someone you love them.  But I doubt my expectations of a modern, loving, healthy relationship are realistic.  All I know is that today is a shallow, poor excuse for commercial exploitation.  There certainly wasn’t much love on display in the commute this morning and this evening.  Sadly, even work got in on Valentine’s with some love-themed food and drink today (think lots of chocolates, cupcakes, etc.).  I can tolerate being single, but I don’t like having my face rubbed in it – they could at least have the decency to also celebrate Singles Awareness Day tomorrow.

Unconscious Bias

The following “training” has been offered at work.

Overview

Unconscious Bias: Understanding the SEEDS of Bias

Unconscious Bias will helps all employees enhance awareness of their bias in order to make better people decisions which in turn will enable the company to build and maintain a more inclusive environment. Program objectives:

·         Promote inclusion by mitigating bias in everyday interactions

·         Learn to identify certain types of bias/leverage the right mitigation strategy

·         Significantly reduce bias in important decisions about people and resources

How You Will Benefit

Understanding the SEEDS of Bias will enable you to understand the complexities of unconscious bias and learn techniques to mitigate and prevent bias and make better decisions. With that understanding in mind, you will be able to contribute to make more informed, effective and confident decisions because you will understand and remove bias from your decision making processes.

Course Specifics

The Unconscious Bias program covers three content areas:

1. Brains are Biased
2. The SEEDS Model
3. Mitigating Bias

The program puts research into practice to promote effective conversations and brain-friendly learning to raise awareness and change behavior.

Who Should Attend

Unconscious Bias: Understanding the SEEDS of Bias is designed for all employees. It is also part of the Management Fundamentals curriculum for new managers.

Call me cynical, but this sounds absolutely awful (and, dare I say it, very “American”) so I have absolutely no intentions of attending.  But then the last sentence threw me – my only current form of career advancement is, reluctantly, to become a manager, thereby implying that I should attend this training.  What a dilemma.  I probably won’t attend – mainly because I don’t think I need the training.  It is the Chinese/Indian members of my group who are the ones who need to attend, since I am the one in the minority and the victim of bias.  And I have absolutely no expectations that regardless of whatever training they might attend their behavior will not improve my status and standing in my group, regardless of my ability.  Yes, I am saying that I am a victim of racial discrimination in the workplace, intentionally or unintentionally.  Yikes, that sounds like a bigger deal than maybe I intended. Regardless, I bet I could cause a big stink if I was to bring this up with HR. 

English Tea Cookies

Very randomly came across these "English Tea Cookies" in the local supermarket today.  Nope, I've never heard anything called that before either.

Piers Morgan

During a discussion on Trump's immigration policies, Piers Morgan was amusingly told to "F*ck off" on a political talk show on premium cable last night.  About time.  That guy is an absolute prick, and I don't know why people let him still appear on British television let alone American television.  I happened to watch Susan Boyle's first Britain's Got Talent audition on YouTube the other day, and it was somewhat soured by his presence as one of the judges.  And don't forget he is one of the key media scum involved in the phone hacking scandal.  A definite top 5 member in my list of people I'd most like to punch.  Can't we somehow get him implicated in Operation Yewtree?

Wind Chimes

I recently hung up some wind chimes just outside the door to my balcony.  Partly because I happened to notice there was a hook I could hang something up on, and partly to annoy my neighbors because I’m fed up with the miscellaneous noises they make to annoy me.  So it has been really windy the last few days, and the sound of these wind chimes banging around is loud and grating even to me.  But nobody has said anything, so they stay up until I finally move out of this place – which will hopefully happen soon as I have no intention of extending my lease again.

I want to retire now

2 days in a row of getting out of bed before 6 am and spending more than 12 hours in the workplace.  Exhausting…  This is definitely the busiest I’ve been for some time – no thanks to my manager volunteering me for stuff that I don’t want, and don’t need, to do.  I wouldn’t say I’m stressed, but definitely don’t like it when my inbox starts to get clogged up with all manner of back and forth on various topics, and I don’t have time to read things properly and tidy it up (currently approaching 1000 e-mails in my Inbox that I need to file away or delete).  Naturally, most of the issues involve either identification of an issue or lack of clarity on something – things easily fixed or avoided with some degree of attention or competency in the first place.  This is where my patience gets sorely tested, and I’m very conscious that I should not let things get to me perhaps as much as they used to.  It appears that a lot of my frustrations are being taken out on the ping pong table, as my opponents have noted as I overpower them again with an emphatic display of intensity and ferocity.     

Bearish

Yikes.  My company released some financial results and lower than predicted sales forecasts yesterday, and subsequently our shares tanked by 10% reaching a new 2 year low today.  When you have quite a considerable amount of stock in the company thanks to the employee stock purchase plan, this means quite a substantial hit on your savings.  Not good.  It’s not totally irredeemable, we either need to buy another company or be bought.  At least, that is what all the financial analysts are saying.  I tend to agree with them – as the analysts say (and without saying anything that could be construed as insider trading), there doesn’t seem to be much in the pipeline that is going to immediately and significantly boost income, and it appears that senior management have done very little to appease concern yet.  Not a lot of happy campers here at work at the moment.

Dinosaur Poo

Here is a photo of some dinosaur poo I own.

Yep, I'm too busy and stressed about work to write a decent blog entry today.  And probably for the rest of the week expect the same.  Sorry.

Snow Day

Lots of snow overnight and today, to the extent that I took a snow day and worked from home.  I think it would have been possible to drive into work - lots of snow, but not really quite cold enough to result in icy roads (that might be an issue tomorrow morning) and the roads looked relatively clear - but no point chancing it.  You know its a bad one when my company sends out an automated message to everyone - the office was open but to use your judgement as to whether it's safe to go into work or not.

Super Bowl LI

Some "as I'm watching" observations:

- The Super Bowl invariably turns into an a ridiculous over the top spectacle of American patriotism and nationalism - example number 1, the passionate singing of the national anthem with accompanying jets flying overhead (mind you, that's not uncommon during regular season games as well)

- George Bush Sr, who showed up for the coin toss, did not look good.  I would put money on him as a 2017 celebrity death.

- I hate the New England Patriots.  Apart from being a bunch of cheaters (deflated balls, stealing play signals, etc.), they also have an owner, coach and quarterback who have endorsed Trump.  Also, their fans might be even more obnoxious than Seattle's.  Go Falcons.

- I haven't paid much attention to the expensive and probably celebrity-filled adverts yet.  All I know is that the advert breaks during the Super Bowl are even more frequent and longer than regular American Football games - which are bad enough as it is - making a 60 minute game probably last more than 4 hours.

- The game is not really of interest to me, so I'm wondering whether to turn over to watch the end of Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult - a mildly amusing diversion.

- I wonder if there are going to be as many adverts for erectile dysfunction drugs as there normally are during American football games? (they know the audience)

- I'm not going to watch the Halftime Show.  I don't know about and don't care to know about Lady Gaga and her music.  I'd rather finish cleaning my room.

- For the 2 highest scoring teams during the regular season, we haven't seen much action yet (scoreless 1st quarter)

- The premiere of 24: Legacy follows the Super Bowl.  They normally put in a high profile program after the game since they know that the audience will be massively inflated.  However, the early reviews have not been good so I will probably watch but with low expectations.

- I'm still gutted that the San Diego Chargers have ceased to exist.  No Super Bowls, only one Super Bowl appearance which they got hammered in.  Sad.  With the Raiders move to Las Vegas having possibly fallen through, there is a small possibility that they might to San Diego (the San Diego Raiders?) but I think that very unlikely since as a Chargers fan I absolutely hated the Raiders

- Atlanta playing well now, but penalties may be hurting their chances.  But 0-14 down, now the Patriots have to achieve the biggest ever Super Bowl comeback.

- My attention has started to drift, rather than watching the game I'm doing other things now.  PICK-SIX.  Well that's livened things up - 0-21 to Atlanta now.  I reckon like 95% of America, this is who we want to win.

- Not quite a shutout at halftime - 21-3 to the Falcons.  Pats are going to need to do something special to come back now.  Sadly, that is not outside the realms of possibility.

- Totally missed the "Alfa Romeo" (?!) Half-Time Show.  Don't.  Care.

- Looks like it might be another blowout Super Bowl - 28-3 now.  This year's playoffs have definitely been short of tension or excitement in almost all the games.

- I think probably all the big adverts and trailers have been shown now.  Nothing particularly memorable that I can think of - but admittedly I'm only half-watching.

- I see that Vice President Pence is in attendance.  So President Trump couldn't make it?  Will whoever wins go to the White House - which I think is the tradition?  That'll be interesting.  Certain athletes - like LeBron James of the champion Cleveland Cavaliers in basketball - have been very outspoken for Clinton and against Trump, to the extent that lots of teams are no longer staying in Trump hotels for away games.  To skip the ceremony would be making as big a statement as kneeling for the national anthem, so may see some winners doing that.

- Ha.  Patriots just got a TD back, then missed the extra point.  Maybe it's just one of those days for them.

- They always seem to cut to Bill Belichick - the Alex Ferguson of New England Patriots - screaming obscenities at the referees.  So there are some things that don't change regardless of whatever kind of football it is.

- Matt Ryan (Matty "Ice") - the quarterback of Atlanta Falcons - was voted the NFL MVP a couple of days ago.  He might also win the Super Bowl MVP - he has a perfect passer rating (though still has some incompletions, so I've no idea how that "math" works)

- My gas fire just turned itself on, giving me a bit of jolt.  Didn't think it was that cold, but we are expecting snow overnight and tomorrow and a messy commute to go with it - suspect I'll end up working from home.

- Patriots making a game of it.  28-12 - a 2 score game, 10 minutes to go.  I think Atlanta needs one more score to seal it.

- The Atlanta head coach used to be the Seattle Defensive Coach - so that is 3 Super Bowls in 4 years, with it looking like 2 rings.  That's pretty good.

- Lots of trailers for Legion - which is the TV program I'm most looking forward to, starring Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey.  The show runner is the guy who has done the very good, and critically acclaimed, TV versions of Fargo, so good omens.  Early reviews have been positive.  It starts Wednesday.

- Atlanta in a tricky position.  Want to run the ball to milk the clock, but their strength is throwing.  FUMBLE.  TURNOVER.  It's far from over.

- Ouch, just burnt myself getting some pizza out of the oven.  That's left a nice red mark on my arm.

- 28-20.  One score game.  Massive pressure on the Falcons now.

- FANTASTIC CATCH for Atlanta.  They got into field goal range with chance to seal game, but sack and penalty has given the Patriots the ball back with about 3 minutes and 90 yards to go, plus a 2-point conversion to tie the game.  Critical drive coming up.

- Lots of highlight moments in the last 10 minutes.  So much for thinking this was going to be a blowout.

- Please stop cutting to shots of the owner of both teams in the crowd.  America is already sick of rich white men, don't focus on more of them.  These are the people running, and ruining, the country.

- Patriots first and goal.  Plenty of time.  Holy cow.

- TOUCHDOWN.  2-POINT CONVERSION. TIED GAME.  Atlanta has got less than a minute to do something, otherwise we are going to overtime (first overtime in Super Bowl history)

- Overtime.  Terrible 4th quarter for Atlanta - let New England score 19 points and tie the game.  And couldn't do anything on offense.  If they lose, this is going to hurt.  All the momentum is on Patriot's side.  This would truly suck.

- The rules for overtime suck.  The team that wins the toss has an immediate advantage - they only need to score a TD and that is game over.  The other team doesn't even get a chance to score.  That doesn't seem fair.  And no surprises who won the toss.

- Crap.  Touchdown, and Super Bowl, to New England Patriots.  Again.  A win for Trump's America.  I feel sick.  I'm done with today's blog.

Sports - love to hate, or hate to love?

The good:
- Arsenal losing
- England winning in Six Nations

The bad:
- Palace losing badly at home to the bottom side (0-4 at halftime - disgraceful)
- Hull winning
- Chelsea winning, again

Tomorrow, if Leicester and Man Utd don't draw (I hate Man Utd, but I don't want Leicester to climb away from the relegation battle), Swansea win, and New England Patriots (the most hated team in America, which I concur with) win the Superbowl - I am done with sports.

H1-B

Oh lordy, I’m opening myself up to all kinds of accusations of hypocrisy here.  But there is one aspect of Trump’s immigration reform that I do approve of – and that is his plan to change the H1-B visa process.  I have obvious personal experience with this, being that this is the visa I obtained to come back to the US and eventually obtained a green card from.  But, it is a flawed process.  It has meant that entire career paths, like mine, are impacted by a massive influx of Chinese and Indian workers – some of whom are very dubiously qualified.  And it has also meant that these people immigrate to the US with lower salary expectations, seriously impacting my (and “qualified Americans”) earning potential.  They’ve talked about changing the process so that visas for senior, higher-paying jobs will be given priority and granted first – which seems sensible.  I think worker skill-set still has to also be taken into account – so that people who are appropriately qualified and skilled, like I was, are able to apply and obtain a visa for jobs which there are no qualified Americans for.  Fundamentally, it also has to be up to the American education system to produce homegrown people that can fulfill these jobs rather than rely on foreign labor.  When entire groups of IT workers are fired and replaced by lower-salaried Indian-immigrant workers, then the process is being abused and needs fixing. 

It's party time, it's excellent

It’s the 25^th Anniversary of Wayne’s World this year.  No way.  Way.  I hadn’t even started university yet, it was that long ago.  My advice – don’t watch it again.  NOT.  Do watch it again, but be warned that it has aged quite badly.  However, it remains a remarkably quotable film – “Schwing”, “We’re not worthy”,  “Exsqueeze me”, etc.  And of course an epic Bohemian Rhapsody sing-along – the one time I truly wished I had long hair to headbang along to.

If you can't laugh you'd cry

As depressing as Trump’s presidency has already been, at least it has created a hilarious number of memes – particularly relating to his ugly spectacle of signing executive orders in front of the media.  This might be my favorite: