World Cup R16 Day 1

Goodbye Messi!  Goodbye Ronaldo!  Best players in the world - whatever.  I was impressed by France - when they went 2-1 down, they were able to find another gear and come back.  Classy.  England don't have that.  And, naturally, not sorry that Argentina went out.  Don't like them for all sorts of historical reasons: Falkland Islands, Hand of God, and masters of the dark arts of football - cheating, diving, time-wasting, fouling, complaining.  They won't be missed.  Not unhappy that Portugal went out either - Ronaldo is a preening egomaniac, and they are undeserving European champions.  I'm no big fan of Luis Suarez either, but impressed with Uruguay as a team.  Will be a good quarter final between France and Uruguay - but I tip France to edge it.

Wot no football?

No “soccer” today – it has kind of thrown my recent routine into disarray!  Instead, I’m going to mention something that came up at a recent meeting.  Our company conducted an employee survey recently, and they’ve gradually been disseminating some of the results and conclusions – and today, they shared some of the results from my group.  One of the more interesting points they brought up was the fact that our group is particularly multi-cultural with many people whose primary language is not English, but that it is still necessary to discuss work in a “universal language” – which is obviously English.  And what happened when we came out of the meeting?  All my Chinese cube neighbors continued to discuss work in Chinese, even though we had literally just come out of a meeting telling us that we shouldn’t.  Insulting.  But not in the least bit surprising.

Choices

I’m not going to talk about England’s game today.  As I write this during the afternoon, I haven’t watched the game yet – although I know the score.  And I am quite content with the result.  I guess the next game will decide whether it was the right choice or not to rest most of the players and maybe not try your hardest.  I think/hope it was.

Instead, I’m going to talk about a dilemma I have.  I’ve been invited to an onsite interview for a company in San Diego.  But I don’t know whether to go.  It’s for the same company I applied to back in February (?).  And I had a phone interview earlier this week that seemingly went well enough for me to be asked to come in.  But I’m conflicted.  On the one hand, it’s San Diego.  A place I miss and a place that I’ve said I’ve always wanted to move back to.  Conversely, my worry is that I see San Diego through rose-tinted glasses from my great time there before, and that I won’t ever be able to replicate that.  There are also several red flags concerning the company I might be moving to, and I’m also in a much happier position now in my current job with my new manager.  And also my living situation is better than its ever been.  My current thoughts: the grass isn’t always greener on the other side; better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.  Also, one of the names on the interview list was familiar to me from my time in Orange County some 10+ years ago – and if it is the person I think it is, I'm not totally sure, then he is a total douchebag.  So, I’m almost talking myself out of interviewing – even if it means burning bridges for any future job applications.  Maybe I should just interview and see if anything comes out of it – what have I got to lose? - but even that is a hassle, because it would be the Monday before I fly back to the UK, and it’s hardly professional for me to ask for another day off work right before a 3 week holiday.  So I suspect I won’t apply, but I’ll stew about it for a bit longer.  Historically, it hasn’t always been a good idea for me to trust my gut – so maybe I should just go for it.  But the more I think about it, the more I think that if I was ever to quit this job then I’d much rather take some extended time off rather than jump into a new job immediately.  This is where my indecisiveness comes to the foreground.  I hate myself.  Whatever decision I make I’m sure I’m going to regret.    

World Cup Day 14

AUF WIEDERSEHEN DEUTSCHLAND!  The first big upset of the tournament, with Germany crashing out.  How mightily enjoyable was that!  You’re used to these ruthlessly efficient and clinical German teams – and the German team I watched today wasn’t anything like that.  Very, very surprising.  Especially after that last minute winner against Sweden, you thought they would step up.  DAS IST NICHT GUT.  I was hoping that Brazil would also contrive to go out today, but alas that was too much wishful thinking.  Having seen how the draw is panning out, I definitely want England to finish in 2nd place now in Group G – that half of the draw appears easier.  But I look at all the teams who have qualified or who can qualify, and nobody has stood out and they all look beatable – so is it better to continue riding our momentum?  The game against Belgium is going to be interesting – how many changes do we make, how hard do we push, how good is Belgium?  I wish it was the early game – those 7am games are perfect for me getting up to watch, showering at halftime, then heading to work after they’ve finished.  The 11am games are a hassle because I’m at work, I typically can’t avoid the score before watching the replay that evening, there aren’t any sports bars nearby I can go to watch the game at, so I rely on the BBC or Guardian website to follow the game via text updates – which sucks – and both of England’s next games are on at that time.  I might have to stream them or – more likely – head home to watch them at lunchtime.  Work is clearly not a high priority at times like this! 

FAKE NEWS

TIME clearly going for a record number of covers featuring a certain President Trump - none of them particularly flattering or reflective of a positive presidency.  It's not just Trump - the Supreme Court upholding the travel ban is particularly repugnant - and only happened because Republicans blocked Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, a cynical and nasty tactic in itself.  Politicians are the absolute worst.

Westworld Finale

Bonkers.

World Cup Day 11?

A comfortable win for England.  I don't remember ever having said that about an England World Cup game before.  Panama fan's celebration after scoring their goal - having conceded 6 - was hilarious, like they'd won the game.  But did England do too much?  Looking ahead, finishing 2nd in Group G actually may theoretically give an easier path through the tournament.  Of course, so much can happen between now and the end of group play - but that seems to be the general consensus.  So how then should we play against Belgium?  I would definitely play different squad members - give everyone at least some World Cup playing time.  I think any team from Group H is beatable in the round of 16, so let's see how the potential quarter final opponents line up before deciding how hard to go for it against Belgium.  I'd rather England face the likes of Mexico or Switzerland than the likes of Germany or Brazil.  Mind you, Brazil and Germany have hardly been convincing so far.  But nice to think these thoughts rather than fret about even getting through the group stages. 

Some Misc Thoughts

- Damn, Germany somehow found a way to win.  It felt inevitable, even when they went down to 10 men.  Watch them go and win the tournament now.

- Went bowling this week.  Didn't do very well.  It's not that I didn't get any spares or strikes.  It's that I didn't get any of them in a row.  It's exactly like my ping pong form - from the sublime to the ridiculous, from one game or one frame to the next.

- I've been watching the new season of Humans, and kind of struggling with it.  Regardless of the quality of story lines, it looks kind of cheap - clearly a limited production budget in the same manner as Doctor Who.  Especially compared to the excesses of Westworld.

- I wish I had a dog.  If I worked from home, or even if I lived close to work, I would definitely do it.  All the trouble, pain and expense of owning a dog is more than made up by the unconditional love and companionship.  More so the older you get.  I see myself retiring by the coast where I can walk my dog on the beach every sunset.

- There are indications that LEGO may be producing some James Bond-themed sets.  A marriage made in heaven of 2 favorite things as far as I'm concerned.

- Pride weekend.  There is a big parade in Seattle tomorrow, and our company has a float.  Not my thing - and didn't like the fact that our company was trying to aggressively encourage us to attend.  Didn't appreciate that - each to their own.

- I need to get out more.  I need to exercise more consistently.  And I need to eat better.  I've been wishing these things for the last 20 years!  Is it too late to teach an old dog new tricks?

World Cup Day Whatever

Not been following the World Cup quite so zealously over the last few days.  I caught some of Croatia vs Argentina – two of the dirtiest sides in the tournament.  Not really that surprised with the result, not the major upset that everyone thinks it is – Argentina struggled to qualify, and Croatia are a good dark horse.  But Argentina could still qualify for the next round, and it’s those good teams that scrape through to the knock-out stages who will get better during the tournament and are the ones to watch.  No one team has really stood out yet – but we really need to cut the chaff and get to the business end of the tournament and the knock-out stages.  There have just been too many matches which I’m just totally indifferent to and/or which have been remarkably unmemorable.  I guess it’s good that there haven’t been any goalless draws so far.  Too many goals from dodgy VAR penalties, own goals or set plays though.  And when the World Cup gets expanded to 48 games, it’s going to become even more bloated and insipid.  The US TV coverage continues to be absolutely abysmal – and without US involvement in the tournament, most of the fair weather fans here have little to no interest in the tournament.  I shall not be getting up at 5 am to watch the England game on Sunday, and indeed I might not watch the game until the evening.  Hopefully I can avoid the score before then – but my attempts to do that so far with other games have failed miserably.   

Starbursts

When you see a headline today like “Donald Trump Threw Starburst Candies at Angela Merkel”, you know that the American presidency has reached a new low.  And whoever thought that was possible given the outrage this week about child cages, family separation and the generally deplorable immigration policy enforcement on America’s borders.  Not to say the many, many other awful things that have been said and done under Trump’s “leadership” already, many of which we’ve already forgotten about.  We continue to endure and be mesmerized by this outlandish presidency, that will be talked about and analyzed for decades to come.  I’ve never been so interested in politics in my entire life than now.  What a sh*tshow/clusterf*ck. (definition: A description of an event or situation which is characterized by a ridiculously inordinate amount of frenetic activity.  Disorganization and chaos to an absurd degree.  Often associated with extreme ineptitude/incompetence and/or sudden and unexpected failure  – a perfect summary of Trump’s presidency so far)   

And a special big "f*ck you" to the Republican senators accusing the National Science Foundation of "climate propaganda" for raising aware of climate change.  Global warming is an objective scientific fact, and your denial of it is intentionally ignorant and political in nature.  If it isn't already bad enough that we have the repugnant and reprehensible Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA.  Yes, the Environmental Protection Agency is headed by someone who rejects scientific consensus that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are a primary contributor to climate change.  And that there are not "sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution".  For f*ck's sake, these are the people currently controlling - and ruining - America.

Crows

Not for the first time, I got woken up by crows early this morning.  Horrible, loud, aggressive things – they are vermin.  However, it doesn’t look as though there is an easy solution to scaring off crows but not other birds.  Which is a shame.  I might have to resort to stockpiling some stones or something so that when it happens again, I can take potshots at them.  One of the internet threads suggesting getting an air gun, which is something I hadn’t considered before and not the worse idea.  If I continue to get woken up by their incessant cawing, then I will take any measures necessary to get rid of them.  The joys of hot weather and leaving bedroom windows open overnight.

Heat Wave

We are currently in the midst of a mini heatwave in Seattle - with temperatures maybe creeping into the 90's (Fahrenheit).  It sure as hell is too hot to do any work, and too hot for me to have any meaningful opinions on the World Cup today.  Instead, I'm fretting about the lack of effective cooling in my house.  I don't have AC, I don't have ceiling fans, and I'm relying on just one crappy floor fan and one crappy table fan to keep me cool and give me a good night's sleep.  But they're not working, so I might have to invest in something new and more effective off Amazon.  I'd love to get a portable or window AC unit which I could have in my bedroom, but I'm not really set up to do that downstairs - where I might just have to get a better fan.  All I know is that it ain't all going to be cheap.   

World Cup Day 5

“And on the fifth day of the 2018 World Cup, that great, recurring soap opera of international sports finally got its chance to begin again: The not-so-mighty but ever-hopeful England National team took the field.”         

The New York Times managed to epitomize England in one sentence.  As for the game itself, same old England.  After a good first half hour and a load of missed chances, conceded a soft penalty and then reverted to same ineffectual, stale, nervy England.  The 2nd half was awful – we don’t have the skills or tactical nous to break down a team parking the bus.  I actually left to go into work with 10 minutes left in the game.  I missed the injury-time winner, so what.  England don’t have a chance in hell against a good side – Belgium are probably going to blow us out, but hopefully we will have qualified for the knock out stages by then (if we can’t beat Panama, then we deserve to go home early).  Some of the players I am very unsure whether I would consider international quality – Harry Maguire (I had no idea who this stranger was lining up in an England shirt in the tunnel, and I had no idea he played for Leicester) and Kieran Trippier (does he even regularly play for Spurs?) .  But perhaps it was the more well-known players who were the least effective – for example Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling.  I don’t know – I guess a win is a win, and you kind of think that England can improve as they hopefully progress in the tournament.  But this is England, so you can never be optimistic.

World Cup Day 4

First upset of the tournament, with Mexico taking down Germany.  I don't think Germany have reason to worry - they created plenty of chances that they would put away in any normal game, and I still think they will go very far in the tournament.  Is Brazil drawing with Switzerland a surprise?  Maybe not if you consider the rankings.  How the hell did Switzerland come to be ranked number 6 in the world?  I don't even think Switzerland are better than England.  Just goes to show what a joke FIFA is.  The previews for England's game tomorrow feature a lot of Wayne Rooney.  Good grief - the coverage here really sucks.

World Cup Day 3

Just one opinion to share - I HATE VAR.  Hate it.  Hate it.  Hate it.  It stops the flow of the game, it's unnecessary and it's distracting.  Everyone hates players waving imaginary yellow cards at the referee, and now they can start waving the imaginary video replay sign.  And some of the decisions that have been reviewed are so tight and so subjective, that there doesn't seem any point to suddenly stopping play 5 minutes later so that they can review some different camera angles before the referee feels obligated to award the penalty.  And where does it stop?  There is so much grabbing and holding at corners, shouldn't they be reviewed every time in case any foul play occurs?  If you have competent referees, which you should do at the World Cup, then trust them to make the right decisions and you don't need video replay.  Now watch England be on the receiving end of some bad decisions from some dodgy Russian-influenced video referee.

World Cup Day 2

Yes, I am going to be blogging football most of the next 30 days.  Sorry.  So, I have come to the realization that the time difference for mid-week games absolutely sucks.  I have to leave for work about half-time of the second game, no later.  And as for the third game of the day – I need to decide how to approach this.  Since today it was Spain vs Portugal – one of the more intriguing group games – my preference was to avoid the score and watch the game when I got home this evening.  Impossible.  I knew the result almost immediately after the game finished, even though I tried to avoid all the sports news.  I don’t think I can avoid it unless I try really hard (and I am clearly on the internet at work way too much!) – which leaves me an option of streaming the match live on my phone from my desk (not exactly idea, nor professional) or just live with knowing the result before watching the highlights later.  Which I think I can do.  I’ve only caught brief bits of games so far – I record full matches, but then just watch the highlights/goals.  Even I’m not a big enough masochist to watch a full 90 minutes of Morocco vs Iran.  The weekend might be different – where I can probably watch more full games when I wake up.  And as for England, I think I shall be “working from home” when they play – I have to watch them play live.  Clearly I am a big enough masochist.     

World Cup Day 1

Some early thoughts on the World Cup

-        Didn’t watch the “opening ceremony” – but read about Robbie Williams giving the middle finger.  Why the hell is Robbie Williams performing in Russia?  What a sellout – one of the American articles I read called him a “washed-up English pop star” which I found quite amusing.

-        I think this is going to be a bit like the Beijing Olympics, with extremely controlled imagery and coverage to make Russia look great.  I’ll be very surprised if there is any (reported) crowd trouble or suchlike.

-        Russia vs Saudi Arabia?  Hardly the most inspiring of opening games – one crappy team thrashing an even more crappy team.  It will be curious to see how the home side does during the tournament since all their players are probably on state-sanctioned performance enhancers.

-        I was having a look through the schedule – not exactly many must see group games.  It looks like there are more bad teams this year than in previous years – and they want to expand the World Cup to 48 teams in the future.  Ridiculous.

-        We already know that Russia bought this World Cup.  But their group seems suspiciously easy – makes you wonder if the group draw was also fixed.  Playing Saudi Arabia at the end of Ramadan seems even more suspicious.

-        The American coverage of the World Cup is going to be awful.  The announcing team for the first game were American and not very good.  I also read that a lot of the games airing here are not even going to use stadium commentators, but commentators watching the game from a monitor in the US.  That absolutely sucks.  For the last World Cup, they brought in some of the best English commentators and it made for critically-lauded coverage – a different network this time and apparently they are using predominantly mediocre American commentators.  I wonder if this is because the US didn’t qualify so they don’t want to shell out more than they have to.  I’m almost tempted to watch the Spanish language coverage.

-        Hopefully I’ll still be in the US, and living in or near one of the cities hosting World Cup games, in 2026.  I want to watch a game – even if it is between 2 bad teams.  Still so much better than a MLS game.

Stuck at Work

As I was trying to leave work yesterday, the security gate over the parking garage exit refused to go up.  This has never happened before.  Just a minute before I had seen it working, since a cyclist had triggered the gate when they left.  But it wasn’t budging for me when I got there.  I tried backing up and re-approaching the gate – no luck.  I tried parking the car walking round and trying to open the gate from the outside – no luck.  By then the security guard at the front desk had seen me and was also trying to help – but he couldn’t get the gate to open either.  So there I was stuck at the office, whilst the security guard called an engineer out to look at it – whilst all I could think was how long I would be stuck at the office for.  And in no mood to do any work.  There were a few other cars but not many at this time – after all is was 7pm so wouldn’t expect many people to still be at work.  So just settling in back at my desk for the evening, imagining I was going to be here for several more hours, when I got a call about 10 minutes later from the security guard telling me the gate had apparently fixed itself.  Someone else had been able to leave the garage without any issues.  So I got to my car and tried to exit again, and thankfully I was able to this time.  Weird.  Since we have to go through a car park barrier before the gate, my theory is that for whatever reason the barrier didn’t trigger the gate when I tried to exit the first time, but if I had re-triggered the barrier then the gate would probably have opened when I approached it.  Oh well, at least by the time I left the traffic was much clearer! 

Dad's Army Stamps

I got alerted today to the fact that the Royal Mail are releasing a set of Dad’s Army stamps for their 50th anniversary.  Considering the internet address of this blog came from the Dad’s Army theme tune, my interest was piqued.  But despite a limited edition framed stamp set signed by Ian Lavender, I don’t think I can be tempted to invest in anything.  Things like Star Wars/Star Trek/Game of Thrones/James Bond have intrinsic value through worldwide popularity – but Dad’s Army is just too niche to have any value.  Which is a shame – who wouldn’t want a set of stamps containing catchphrases like “You stupid boy!”, “Don’t panic!  Don’t panic!” and “We’re doomed.  Doomed!”.  Classic.  Jeez, I’m nearly talking myself into getting them…

iPhone Battery Drain

Since updating the software on my iPhone last week, I have noticed a massive battery drain occurring on my iPhone.  If I don’t leave my phone plugged in overnight, it will drop from 100% to <20% power by the morning.  Just ridiculous.  And that is when the phone is not being used.  I don’t imagine I can sustain a long phone call now without using up all the power up.  I first of all thought it might be an issue with the battery.  After all, there had been recent stories of Apple being caught using batteries that degrade quickly to try to prompt customers to buy a more recent model of their phone.  And I have an iPhone 6s – relatively old.  I believe Apple are offering battery replacements this year for just $30 in response to the news, so I thought about making an appointment at the “genius bar” at the local Apple store to get a replacement.  But I don’t think I have a problem with my battery – I didn’t notice any particular issues with my battery before last week, and the settings on my phone seem to suggest that the battery is in relatively good health.  Which means that it is likely due to the software update.  And a quick internet search reveals that I am far from the only person seemingly suffering from this problem.  It appears that Apple have not done particularly good user testing on this new software update, resulting in lots of people suffering this issue of the battery quickly getting used up.  Apparently there are workarounds, but nothing simple – I’m trying to change a few settings, but not sure how much real difference that is going to make.  Instead, I’m more or less stuck with it until Apple release an update to their software hopefully fixing this issue.  My advice, hold off on updating to iOS 11.4 on your iPhone if you can.

Cover

Trump loves his TIME covers - he even had fake ones displayed in some of his properties - and he has had plenty of them to choose from during his presidency (though none of them particularly flattering, and as much as he wants it he wasn't TIME person of the year).  The most recent one is another good one:

Petulance or Ignorance

The body language in this photo is absolutely fascinating.  It either looks like Trump is acting like a petulant schoolboy, or he has absolutely no clue what the hell is being discussed.  What a tool.  The Art of Negotiation - whatever.  Clearly the G-7 summit was ridiculous - he didn't even bother hanging around for talks on the environment.  Next, Korea.  Which is either going to be a total circus or a total mockery - and it sure as hell isn't about Korea as much as it is about Trump.  His presidency is like a car accident that you can't help rubbernecking at - unfortunately the entire world is involved or affected by the accident in one way or another. 

American Sports

I couldn't watch the Golden State Warriors win another NBA finals today - with a comprehensive sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers - they've won 3 out of the last 4, and will probably dominate for many more years to come.  They are the Manchester United of basketball - people either love them or hate them.  I hate them.  Apparently so does Trump, since he has already said that the winner is not going to visit the White House per tradition (again) - on top of disinviting the Philadelphia Eagles and his comments on standing for the national anthem, he clearly has a beef against colored athletes. In other sports news, the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup yesterday.  Nothing against the Capitals - congratulations for their first ever win.  But I'd much rather their opponents the Las Vegas Golden Knights had won - who were very much the Leicester City of NHL, with 500-1 odds at the start of the season and with a fairy tale journey in their first ever season of existence to the finals.  The World Cup couldn't have come at a better time, as we now in the dark vacuum of American sports season when only the tedium of baseball is on. 

The Tedious Monotony of Work

It’s been a tough week at work.  Been feeling very low energy, and struggling to get out of bed in the mornings (I’ve been getting in nearer 10 rather than 9).  A couple of days ago I tried to login to e-mail to say I’m taking a sick day – but I kept on getting error messages, and rather than phone in (a sign of changing times!)  I forced myself to come into work that day.  Probably a mistake, I’m not getting a lot done at the moment.  And today, I became aware that I might have missed a good opportunity to better my standing and status at work – I would have been assigned a lead role on an indication that has just been decided to advance to Phase III (which is a big deal in clinical trials) and which appears to be important to upper management, but with the change in my manager I am no longer attached to this.  It would have been tough – pressurized, and still at the whims of my old manager – but I’m very conscious that I am somewhat caught between the gaps in my current role and have felt rather underused and frankly disposable for some time now, and I need something that raises my profile.  The irony is that today I got awarded a Values at Work Award – in recognition of some other work I have done recently.  That is nice to be appreciated, but I still feel I am a long way away from doing enough to earn the promotion that I think is long overdue (and which frankly I need on my CV).  It’s definitely not happening from the mid-year evaluation.  Once again, I am really starting to question my future here – regardless of having a new manager. 

ICE

In a sign of the times, I’ve started to carry around my green card in my wallet again.  When I hear about stories like pizza delivery drivers being arrested due to their legal status, then I think my accent makes me a target of being reported – regardless of my skin color and the fact that I live/work in the environs of a sanctuary city.  But better to be safe than sorry, I’ve decided to keep my green card handy in case my legal status in the country ever gets questioned.  I think the chances of this ever happening are slim to none, but still there are enough nationalists out there (and under the current president, less shame in being openly racist/nationalist) that you never know.  I’ve definitely been the target of some abuse on the road due to the GB sticker on my car.  Mind you, stupid Seattle Seahawk fans probably think it stands for Green Bay (as in the Green Bay Packers).  Idiots.

World Cup Preview

It’s crazy to think that the World Cup is starting in just over a week’s time.  I haven’t given it much thought at all.  I don’t really know who made or who didn’t make the England squad.  Other than Belgium, I don’t know who else is in England’s group.  I don’t know what date and what time England’s games are – the time difference between the US and Russia would suggest that most games will be on early for me, so hopefully I can catch them before heading into work.  I don’t really have any high expectations for England at all – to be honest, I don’t have any expectations at all.  We’re not going to win it, but at least I hope we’re taking a young team who can get some good experience for future tournaments.  I don’t even know if England are a “good” side anymore – maybe, but history says that they will choke on the bigger stage.  Even without the US involvement (embarrassing), I think and hope that all the games are being aired over here – I think Fox shelled out a lot of money on the rights, so I would be very surprised if they aren’t showing them all (there is at least one Fox sports channel not available to me – so guaranteed they will air some games there…).  The few trailers I’ve seen have, probably unsurprisingly, focused on Ronaldo and Messi.  As long as they bring in some English play-by-play commentators, I’ll be happy.  I don’t give a monkeys who they drag out for the studio analysis for each game – that waste of time is getting automatically fast forwarded for each game.  So yes, this is probably the first major “soccer” tournament involving England that I’m not invested in at all – hopefully that will mean I can enjoy it more!   

History

I've decided what period of history is the most interesting to me.  It's not the First World War.  It's not the Second World War.  It's not the Vietnam War.  It's not the Cold War.  All of which at some point or another I've been really interested in.  Nope, the period of history I find most interesting is the period we are currently living through and which is a long way from finishing - the Trump presidency.  It's fascinating now.  It's going to be fascinating in 50 or a 100 years time.  It is crazy, it is memorable, it is fluid, it is divisive, it is either the greatest thing that has ever happened to America or the biggest train wreck that America has every experienced - depending on who you ask.  There are revelations we are hearing about during his presidency, there will be revelations we hear about long after his presidency has ended.  He may or may not win a second term, but his impact on America, American people and American government is enormous - for better or for worse, again depending on who you ask.  It is going to be difficult to separate real news from "fake news" - but again that is a big aspect of his presidency, since there has never before been a president who is such a bold-faced liar.  Every month, I've decided I want to buy and read a book that gives a good insight into Trump and his Presidency - think books like Fire and Fury, and Collusion.  There is going to be a steady stream of these books for months and years to come from journalists and insiders - so this is something that is going to sustain me for a long time hopefully!

Insect Bites

My blood is like heroin to insects - once they get a taste, they can't stop biting.  And having had some of my upstairs windows open recently due to the warmer weather, I've already started to see some insect bites appearing over my torso.  So, in a probably doomed attempt to make things better, I've invested in some plug-in bug zappers.  So far, they don't seem to have made the slightest bit of difference.  They kind of give out a UV-type light that is supposed to attract the insects - but I've yet to see any evidence that they attract or kill anything.  Might have to go back to Amazon and invest in something that is a bit pricier but might actually work.

Reclining Sofa

Now I've got a new mattress - my next furniture priority is a new sofa.  I hate my current one - I've had it for a while now, its worn, its uncomfortable, and it's broken.  I like the fact that it is reclining - but not when one of the levers to recline is broken.  So given the amount of time I spend on the sofa, I deserve an upgrade.  With Father's Day coming up, I've seen ads on the telly for sofa sales at one of the local furniture stores - so I might need to investigate further.  I'd love to get a complete living room set but I'm not really set up for that, so I just want to find a comfortable reclining (maybe power reclining) leather sofa. 

The Survey Says...

There was an employee survey at work recently, and they shared some of the initial results this week.  I won’t go into detail about the results, but the most striking thing for me was the way they talked about highlights and “opportunity areas”.  A classic HR term.  Personally, I would use the term lowlights – but I guess that is too negative a term for management.  I also don’t consider it correct to classify areas that didn’t score well in the survey as “opportunities”.  No, that is another attempt at positive spin - the correct term is “problem areas”.  It is not so much an opportunity as a necessity for management to address any issues that come up – otherwise employees will continue to be unhappy and continue to leave.  Naturally, being the negative person I am most of my responses tended to trend on the negative side – so I’m sure I helped skew some of the results (though not by much given the sample size).  The statistician in me would be fascinated to get hold of the data from the survey and explore the data for myself – especially since some of the cluster analysis they presented seemed like absolute manure (looking for patterns where patterns don’t exist, or proving the obvious, or mixing up “collaboration” with “being told what to do”).