I guess I'm quite the whiner sometimes.
For all the good things I have in life. And for all the things I take pleasure in doing. I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
So in short my life the past two weeks.
I'm out here in Tucson again. It's hot out here
I have time to do some of the things out here, but seem to spend a lot of time at the office.
The office here is nice, the people are relaxed and patient.
I have a real office I'm working in, not a cube for a change.
I've set up two monitors, plus my laptop. It's geeky.
I booked myself at a Golf Resort and Spa.
The hotel is really nice, at least by my standards.
I had the sunday champagne brunch. Gluttony...
I sat by the pool all afternoon after the brunch.
Drank rum and cokes, talked with a co worker, watched the scenery.
I've met some neat people. Including getting invited to a small group bible study by a nice woman sitting by the pool.
I went to the rock climbing gym once. Still not any good at it.
I went to Biosphere 2, it's a science experiment gone wrong, now taken over by Columbia University, and currently closed indefinatley due to fire.
My parents are out visiting me.
I invited them, so I can't say I didn't expect them to embarrass me.
I should have gotten two hotel rooms.
All in all, I can't complain...
Travleing has been quite a hassle. The lines at LAX and the lines at Boston were pretty nasty.
Don't fly United out of Boston on a Sunday, or Monday evening for that matter. They've got some issues with how long the security lines are. I think it just happens more often than just Sunday afternoons. I left my house Started at say 3:30 or so, to catch a 6:30 flight. Good thing I left early. I forgot the power supply to my computer, so went back for it, after turning around at the MGH station. Found out that they're doing construction on the Airport t-stop. So they were running shuttles from Mavrick. Then when I got there, I got one boarding pass, then decided to change the flight at the gate. So I went through security, and they denied me, so I changed it at the counter, and still had an hour and a half to get through the security line. And it took about an hour to get through. Idiots...
They've got to get rid of all the shops at Boston landing and just put security there. So they can process more people.
And plus, when I got on my flight to Tucson from LA. There was a line out the door. I did go to the fast kiosk to get my boarding pass, but still almost missed the flight, as there was a line extending outside of Terminal 1 for Southwest. As always I got in line, then someone came by asking for flights in next half hour, then we all skipped past the line. Someone's got to get their act together, if you can drive it in less than four hours, I'd drive rather than fly.
Lastly looking at the way United has got their 767's set up, you'd think they'd got a pretty sneaky way of now going to Business class, economy plus, and regular economy. The economy plus section has three extra inches of leg room, and because of the way they've programmed their computers, they're first assigned to their highest paying customers, and their most reliable customers. Thus when I fly coach, being a 50K a year traveler, I tend to get put there. On top of it, their system will fill the middle seats in economy plus last, and will give preference to their best customers. Thus if the flight is say 85% full in economy (which is typical) you've got most of the economy plus section with empty middle seats, and all of the standard economy with no leg room, completely full including the center seats.
Thus halfway through the flight I noticed this, and there was someone coming towards the front wondering why they were so squished in the back section. Looking for empty seats. Well it's kind of an unwritten way of doing things, but it's not, United makes no attempt to conceal the fact that economy plus is reserved for their better customers, which translates to either, you've purchased a non-discounted ticket, or you're a frequent flyer.
But the last catch is that as the flight gets even more full, they'll fill those seats too.
Okay some people take their shoes off when they enter a their own house.
Some people make other people take off their shoes when they enter their own house.
And some people out of habbit take their own shoes off when they enter other peoples house.
And of course being a Californian at heart the ultimate would be:
I have a friend who takes his shoes off when he drives his car.
Hey, if you love your car as much as some people do, and you want to keep it clean and neat, why not take off your shoes when you drive. In addition, he claims it helps him feel the pedals better.
To stop with all the unproductive ranting. Here's an old article, but one of the reasons I keep on looking to China. Remember I've got my eye on SMIC...
Eyes on the prize...
Infineon empowers Asian fabs
By Mike Clendenin and Peter Clarke, EE Times
Mar 31, 2003 (8:50 AM)
URL: http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20030331S0040
Taipei, Taiwan - Infineon Technologies AG is extending its reach in the world's hottest market. The company last week said it will become a technology enabler for China's leading foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., by transferring 0.11-micron DRAM trench technology and 300-mm-wafer production know-how to Shanghai-based SMIC.
The deal builds on Infineon's earlier efforts to establish a regional presence through arrangements with SMIC and with chip makers in Taiwan. It also gives substance to hints dropped by SMIC that the foundry might move to 300-mm wafers faster than expected.
Indeed, chief executive officer Richard Chang suggested last week that SMIC might move 300-mm manufacturing equipment into a fabrication facility under construction in Beijing by the end of the year (see story, page 28). That would mark a milestone in China's quest to catch up with the rest of the globe in semiconductor-manufacturing prowess.
An SMIC spokeswoman confirmed last week that the company would finish the fab shell in Beijing by December and start purchasing equipment around that time.
I'm sick of this stuff. But at least we're over with it. And I'm going to get accused of slander. FuckedCompany.com here I come!
Q: What's the difference between incompetent managers and pedophiles.
A: There's a registry of sexual predators.
A couple of years ago my company hired a new VP. He brought along a couple of his cronies. Last year, I had dinner with someone who worked for the previous company he was a director at. Unfortunatley, the first word out of his mouth, was "That asshole! You did know we fired him." He sent his pity. I groaned. Unfortunaltey to tally up the immediate damage.
His salary and benefits 2 years
$250K/yr x 2 = $500K
His contracted golden parachute / Sevarance of 2 yrs salary.
$250K/yr x 2 yrs = $500K
Can you believe we had to pay that much just to be rid of this idiot!
Amount of business he generated - Zip, Zero, Zilch.
The only thing I can remember him bringing in was a strange program which supposedly was a control application from his old company. Which I had later found out that his previous company had stopped supporting and laid off the engineer who designed it. In all the application was good, but only worked with their tools so thus completely irrelevant, and unrelated to our needs. His contribution was pretty much useless.
The most fitting thing about his departure, is because it happened while I was away, I hadn't realized that he'd left. And it took me too weeks to realize he was gone. Then again, I guess it's an indication of how much work he did.
Well we're finally done with him. Unfortunatley there's no registry of corporate predators, and incometent managerial offenders. I'm afraid that like the pedophile, he is only bound to relapse, and victimize others.
Unfortunatley the slime in all of this is that it cost us a half a million dollars in sevarance to be rid of him. So we're still having layoffs, and losing good people. It's pretty messed up when you have to lay off good people so you can fire the incompetent.