I saw the headline.

My initial response: "Boo Hoo buddy!"

Then I read the article.

OK, I have a little more sympathy for you, but I still have a difficult time going that extra mile to really, I mean really, feel bad for you, oh former AIG employee.

I do agree that your boss was a weasel. Any stand up person would have had the guts to come out and say "no bonuses until we weather this out", but no, that didn't happen. I sympathize with you there.

I also sympathize with you because you (claim that you) were not one of the ethically challenged people that created this credit crunch mess we are in yet you get blamed. To this I respond: This is normal human behavior. People are looking for a scape goat and it's up to AIG to prove to the public that they've got what it takes to bring this boat back on course

I also think that it's valiant that you decided to work for $1 and put your time into this to fix this mess. A person of lesser moral character would not have done this.


However:

You WERE there when people were going nuts over these securities. As an MBA student in finance I was appalled by this practice because it didn't make fiscal sense (even though some of my classmates were salivating at the wonderful prospects of these securities). Yet no one at AIG stood up to stop this insane practice within your company walls? If you had said in your resignation that you tried to prevent this but you couldn't, I would be more sympathetic.

Secondly, when you were asked to work for $1 you had a choice. In my opinion you made an honorable choice, but you essentially became a liable volunteer at AIG. With the current mess they are in, you surely must have known what was to come? If the environment is dysfunctional you can do something to fix it, you can moan about it and do thing, or you can leave. I don't fault you for leaving, or feeling used and abused, however with things this bad, did you think that things would be honkey dorey in the office? Why are you whining?

Finally, with the company in the trouble it's in, I know that you had contracts, and I know that it was very weasel-like of your boss to not come and ask for renegotiations, however you (and others) had the option of turning down the bonus, but you did not. I disagree that it's appropriate for the government to hang you out to dry by public embarrassment, but in this economic environment it would make sense to not give bonuses in order to get things back on track.

Bottom line: I still say boo hoo for you. I did not hear you complaining the last 10 years when you were getting compensated as you were.

Maybe you should read Seth Godin's book called Tribes - it may enlighten you

Tags: newspapers, opinion, idiots

I am stuck doing documentation and feeling kinda bored.
This is weird, because normally I really like documentation! Countless times (at least for work) I have come up with manuals, cheat-sheets, assisted in writing departmental policies and SLAs, and it did not really bother me to just sit and write. I like documentation because it's concrete. You can document something and know what it is, what it is about, how it works, and how to fix it if it does not work properly - if written correctly of course!

When I code though, or if I am involved in software development, it's like there is a switch that goes off and I really get bored doing documentation. Eh! maybe I just need a break... gonna go grab a cola and motivate myself to finish it up.

Tags: coding, development, visual studio, windows, virtual PC, homework, school

First they cancelled Space: Above and Beyond. Then they cancelled Firefly. Now apparently they have also cancelled Drive.
What the hell? Honestly, Fox needs to send their execs back to B-School or just fire their sorry asses and get new ones! I was in class last night, but I had set the VCR (yeah, I know, antiquated technology). No Drive! After a couple of weeks of absence from the airwaves on Monday nights, I decided to investigate. CANCELLED! WTF? Cancelled due to low ratings and the final 2 episodes will be aired on July 4th.
Excellent plan! I wonder who thought of that one. Maybe a gifted Fox Exec... So, they are basing their ratings on an antiquated way of statistical data gathering - the Nielsen ratings - that do no take into account people viewing their shows online, through both legal and illegal means, and they can the show. Secondly, there have only been four shows aired, the statistical sample is way too small! FURTHERMORE, they decide to air the series finale two months after the most recently aired episode. Who thought this would be a good idea? Instead of giving more people the opportunity to see the show on it's normal time, people that are used to watching Fox during that time slot due to Prison Break, for a completely random date in the summer. Are they planning on tying it in with Independence Day somehow? Dimwits!

Tags: stupid, television, drive, cancellation, management, marketing, entertainment

March 25th, 1821 - the day the enslaved Greeks rose against their Ottoman oppressors!
Today we honor their commitment and bravery, for without them, there would not no modern Greek nation.

...well in my case it really depends on what the meaning of 'urgent' is.

I did not know that the meaning of a word could be debated, after all I thought that the OED (that's oxford english dictionary for anyone who doesn't know the lingo) was the definitive source for word definitions for the English Language. Let's see what it says, shall we?

Urgent (adverb): Pressing, impelling; demanding or calling for prompt action; marked or characterized by urgency.

OK, now that we've cleared that up, my department had a meeting, about a month and a half ago to determine the escalation levels of our ticketing system. We determined that an 'enhancement' was something that people wanted, but we would get to it whenever we had the resources to get to it. The next step up was 'normal' which means essentially that your problem is in queue with the other problems that are of category normal and it is first-come first-serve. Finally we have 'urgent' which meant something to the effect "there is no other possible way to go about my job, please drop everything and help me".

OK then, so people, being who they are, started classifying things that aren't real urgent (in the grand scheme of things anyway) as urgent. After solving people's issues and giving them detailed directions on how to deal with their issue at hand, I kindly requested that they don't mark something as urgent if it is indeed not urgent! After all, we don't have that many employees to take care of issues in the 'drop everything and help everyone right now' kind of way. Well this person was annoyed that I asked them to not do this, and they talked to my boss who in turned talked to me - and this is the fun part: You see, it really depends on what the meaning of 'is' is...errr..sorry, I mean "what the meaning of 'urgent' is. Apparently, if something comes from the "Administration office" - it is urgent, no matter what. If they dropped an erased - go get it for them if they ask you to (even if it isn't your job). If they have no pencils and they crackberry you to get some - go get them, even though pencils are right next to them. I know, these are ridiculous examples, but this is what I was told!

And so we (not so merrily) debated the meaning of the word 'Urgent' for about five minutes at which point I lost interest in the conversation as it appeared that it was really a fruitless endeavor.

Looking at my boss's work queue, I noticed a number of open tickets from last July (July 06) - six moths ago that were marked urgent, but they weren't closed. My work queue was only 3 open tickets as I had resolved all previous issues. So, what is the meaning of Urgent? I prefer the OED definition, something that demands attention right now, and have it fixed immediately. I really do not want to be debating the meaning of words in the english language. I just want to call something the way it is - so if it is urgent, it's urgent. If it's not, then it's not - so don't call it urgent!

My undergraduate career spanned from Fall of 1998 to Spring 2003 yielding me a BA in Computer Science, a minor in Italian and a quasi minor in German (I decided that I wanted to graduate already and decided to not do the course in German Literature that was my last requirement for a full German Minor) - so that was five years. After a small break of eight months I went back to school, this time grad school.

I've been in Grad school since Spring 2004, it's now Spring 2007 - it's only been three years, but I think I am starting to lose steam. It's only the fifth week of the semester but I am starting to get that nagging child voice in my head that keeps incessantly whining are we done yet? When will this semester be over? oooh my God! Now don't get me wrong! I like my classes, and I like my professors and classmates. I can talk ad-nauseum about certain subjects (usually the subjects that I study) and I like going to class, but I think that I have grown tired of homework and exams.

This leads me to the following question: am I done with school after I finish my second masters? Or is it that I need a bigger break between structured regiments of study? I do want to learn more about subjects such as instructional technology and linguistics, heck - one day I would like to have a doctorate - but recent feeling of are we there yet have me wondering whether I just need a break to get more energy - or whether I've just lost interest. I guess time will tell

Season 6 is about to start!!!
What sort of situation must Jack escape from this season?!?!?!

Gotta escape the hype (gotta admit thout that steve did do a good job with the presentation!)


The AppleTV does have a lot of good points! Permit me to list them:
1. Support for Standard Definition and High Definition TVs
2. No need to have a dedicated PC hooked to your TV, unlike Microsoft's Media Center PCs
3. Easy Integration with iTunes (Music, Films, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts)
It really does simplify the process!

But ultimatelly the product really sucks - why? It doesn't allow me to use my media:
1. DVDs that I own and have ripped to my external HD for convenient access
2. Video that I have captured myself, or digitized myself
3. I know there are a number of people with el gato TV sets, and thus have recorded TV shows


These are just a few examples that really handicap the AppleTV. I realize that apple is attempting to gain (more) leverage for its iTunes store, but as a consumer it makes me not want to buy this device. If iTunes had a built-in DVD ripper, in the same way it rips CDs, and if I could use that content - then I would probably reconsider my position. Perhaps we should wait for AppleTV 2.0

A few years back I played Bloodrayne on my mac - I really liked the game so I decided to go see the movie that came out. Video game movies have been hit-or-miss in general but this one... boy-oh-boy... way it bad. I don't have to say anything original because the IMDB comments of others are sufficient:

"The dailogue is either very cliché, or very stilted (and often both). There are serious continuity issues. The gratuitous sex scene was so completely sudden it seemed like an excerpt from a porn movie."

"During the screening, I wanted to leave bad, but literally came to tears when I found out I couldn't. "Bloodrayne" is waste of time, money, human logic, and sanity. It's torturous, painful, and sad."

"Trivia: The half-naked prostitutes in the scene with Leonid (Meat Loaf) are actually real Romanian prostitutes. According to director Uwe Boll (at the Stockholm International Film Festival) it was cheaper to hire real prostitutes than actresses."

"Uwe Boll deserves nothing less than public flogging for ruining a pretty good VG series. I read elsewhere that most of the actors were either drunk or high and very ashamed and it's easy to see and understand why."

"Michael Madsen, a legend of cult cinema, sways his way through the film swinging a sword like he's drunk. Ben Kingsly mumbles about as if he's simply bored. Kristanna Loken looks beautiful but doesn;t carry the furiosity of Rayne....and therefore simply doesn't create a sense of believability. Michelle Roudriguez looks as if she'd rather be doing some porn film and Meat Loaf just seems to be on aboard for the opportunity to lounge around in a room full of prostitutes."

"There is a sex scene involving the beautiful Kristanna Loken and some Matt guy....instead of increasing a romantic sub plot, tension or signs of "human emotion" within Rayne...the scene simply feels like a seqence from a porn film has been lifted into the film."

"All in all the only praise I can give this film is that it finally ended. Only go to see this film if you are desperate to see Kristanna's breasts as she humps a guy against a cage wall."

"absolutely the worst acting I have seen, Including a 6 year old dance recital"

There is much more - just check out IMDB if you want to read more about how bad this film is

Never seen so much BS on TV as I have with this year's elections.

One of the propositions on the ballot is Proposition 1, which will allow grocery stores to sell wine.
Right now Massachusetts in one of only two states that does not allow alchol to be sold by anyone other than liquor stores.
There is so much bullshit and propaganda on TV that you would not believe, people opposed to proposition 1 say that if allowed it will increase underage drinking, drink driving, and more generally contribute to further societal downfall. What a bunch of BS! Grocery stores still need to check for ID to not sell to underage buyers. What Proposition #1 will do is break up the monopoly that package stores have and it will allow more stores to sell Wine (so people can enjoy some wine with their dinner!) and it has the potential to benefit the customer with convenience and lower prices for consumers.

So, do go out and vote yes on #1 and escape the bullshit that people without a brain are trying to feed you.

While I think that Star Trek 2.0 on G4 is stupid (sorry, I don't know how to jazz-up the original trek, but 2.0 is indeed stupid) I do like the promo ads.

Here is one of them:

Summer has hit New England!

It's hot and sticky today -- wish I had a pool....

For the last few months I have been attending various Symposia that the Department of Computer Science has provided for a long time.
I largely avoided those when I was an undergrad because I could not handle the overload of computer science information that was thrown my way because of the courses that I was taking.

Now that I am in management, and I need a break from management, I got and attend CS lectures.
Today's was interesting - it was about P2P networks

Have a look at the abstract

I have always wanted a happy medium between management and hard core computer science theory.
IT might be the answer...