It was one of those days. No meetings. Lots to do but none of it absorbing. Ms Melle far away in a different time zone and unavailable for perverse, idiotic or otherwise entertaining conversation.
I couldn’t wait for the workday to be over. Counting the minutes to when I could go home. To do… nothing if I chose to.
As reported on Boing Boing, youtube has removed all Comedy Central content, including the Daily Show and Colbert Report clips.
Early on, I guess the lawyers were kept at bay to allow the viral marketing to propogate, but now they’ve had enough? Problem is that if you’ve tried to watch a Daily Show clip on Comedy Central, then you know how much the site sucks and the play is slooooow.
Jeff the BB reader (link above) is spot-on as to why Comedy Central ought to leave well enough alone.
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# You have tiny pathetic little videos that can’t be resized. It’s like watching the TV in the next room through the keyhole of a closed door.# You use javascript to launch a popup window. Therefore, I can’t send a link to my friends or put a link on my blog to direct someone to the video I want them to see.
# Your popup window can’t be opened in a tab or resized. Give me control of my browser back.
# Your popup window has an obnoxious background that I’m afraid is going to give me a seizure.
# Next to your video, there’s an ad that’s bigger than the video (Firefox blocks it, but I’m still annoyed by the gaping hole that remains).
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and I’m an introvert.
(thanks, Melle)
I remember watching a show about rogue elephants, and it appears that the problem is getting worse.
Elephants feel death, and they are leading their own insurgencies against humans in India and Africa – killing humans, destroying villages.
I picture them mourning and keening for their lost homes and friends and freedom.
The event
As you’ll know if you’re Canadian, or if you read First Post, Peter MacKay called former girlfriend and political colleague Belinda Stronach a “dog” in parliament during a debate of the proposed “Clean Air Act” the Conservatives have tabled. And then he denied it, and then all of the claptrap started.
The supposed exchange went as follows:
During a debate on Oct. 19, 2006, over the Conservative government’s proposed clean air act — which was being criticized for not being tough enough on polluters and for abandoning the Kyoto Protocol — Liberal MP David McGuinty asked Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, “Don’t you care about your dog?”
Liberals allege that MacKay pointed toward the vacant seat of Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, whom MacKay dated when she was a Conservative, and said, “You already have her.” MacKay later denied making the remark. (Courtesy cbc.ca)
1. This was not just a politician being a politician. Sure, Canadian parliamentarians are famous for their slings and arrows. Many of them on the bad side of acceptable behaviour. But in the end, this remark was a 15 year-old boy trying to overcome a jilt by showing off for the boys. Personal, not political. And denying he said it? Extra girlie-man points for that one (and I’m sure Condy won’t be too impressed either).
2. But is also not a slur against women or a slur against women in politics. It’s a slur against woman. I like ya, Belinda, but I would have liked you more had you just given him a smackdown right there or taken the high road and let the media skewer him for you. What you did do, which why try to make this about all women, just ain’t right. You know he was being a boy. I know he was being a boy. Don’t posture on it; it’s beneath you.
Google grabs another piece of my ass by releasing Picasa web albums. Affording me a place to show you a few photos of a lovely walk in Bonn.
Sometimes, you’re minding your own business and then your brother sends out an email to his family telling them how much he loves them.
And you smile and feel loved and happy.
I often get lyrics stuck in my head that become profound somewhere between iTunes and the synapses.
Currently on replay:
It hurts to want everything and nothing at the same time (Michelle Branch, “Goodbye to You”)
I got soul, but I’m not a soldier (The Killers, “All These Things That I’ve Done”)
For those of you who have been reading this for a while, you’ll notice there were cryptic references to looking for a job and having a new job in the last six months.
Well, what happened is that I was fired. Not something I ever envisioned happening to me. I’m an overachiever. Lots of school. Many scholarships. Always accolades in my job. Heck, I was a supervisor in a nice-enough Best Western when I was 15. Won a trip to the West Indies for my work at one company (where we reclined on a pleasure boat while hearing about the latest round of layoffs, but that’s another story).
I can’t for (obvious) reasons disclose what went down, but four months later, I have had the time to think about what happened. I know that I could have avoided it. I’m a political animal and can tell you which way the stale air is blowing on any given day. But here’s the thing: I chose to do the wrong thing.
I think I can say that the numerous email from co-workers and friends and family were of immense help. So many WTF questions helped me to realize that my shock had a genuine foundation, and that it really didn’t make any sense :)
The why I chose to go ahead on the bad-for-me path? I guess part of me knew I’d only get more frustrated. I know my body was telling me to get the hell out. The job previous to this one? I finished it by leaving on my own steam, soon after I got the extra-special task of walking out most of my team in a huge layoff. I left with messed-up guts and a full-time headache.
This time around, I’ve developed something called Meniere’s Disease, whereby I got vertigo so bad that it affected my ability to walk or look at Powerpoint presentations (though, maybe silver lining and all that). I’ve had stressful situations since I walked out that door, but never had the same intensity of symptoms (drugs help too).
My biggest sin was telling the truth. To my boss. Sometimes, this is the stupidest thing you can do; sometimes, it’s the only thing that keeps you looking at yourself in the mirror.
There will be lingering effects. Sure, I’m at a company that seems refreshingly interested in what I have to say, but my desktop stays clean, most of my desk toys stay at home, and I’m always ready and packed, so to speak. I wake up sometimes and wonder if that email I sent about what we can do to improve things is pissing off the wrong person as I sleep, changing the terrain such that I need a new and paranoid gameplan to survive.
I told myself when I started, though, that this was a clean slate… for them. I would not bring my fears or political defence/offence postures through the door. Spidey senses, sure. But work with the assumption of goodwill.
My early assessment is that my good karma approach was a good idea. Being an optimist when you’re a born-and-bred cynic is hard work, but a good life lesson.
Melle and I were chatting re: speeches about the love, idealism and bad boys. She suggested I need a “noble affair”…
My response? I am built for a noble affair. And wow, I totally am.