Read Lileks today.

He expresses my reasons for not watching much of the debate last night, and he hits the crux of the matter right on the nose. Get out of my head, Mr. Lileks.

Go read. Then, if so inclined, come back. I'll be waiting.

(Proceeds to file nails while waiting.)

That's just it, isn't it? Kerry was arguing the sime tired, disproven moonbat positions over and over again. Bush, I thought, was a gentleman; all class, he stayed on topic and spoke with passion, even as he paused to search for words every now and again. He knew his subject material. I liked it.

But I tuned out because listening to Kerry was like wading through moonbat troll screeds on my favorite blogs. Within ten minutes, I wanted to put my fist through the TV in the hopes that I could get to his throat. I am so sick of his stubborn refusal to live in the real world with the rest of us.

OK. Enough. Lileks summed it up. Go read it again.

So, I'm sure no one is really asking, "Where the hell have you been lately, Linda?"

(Listens to the crickets going wild.)

I knew it. Even so, I'll tell you anyway. If you've read this far, surely you have some passing interest, right? Right?

First things, first: I didn't get the job I tried for. They gave it to someone who has half my experience, but who boasts a master's degree. Frankly, I'm relieved. Some things have come to light recently that make me disinclined to delve deeper into the technical side of the house. People who can jump regularly through hoops will do well, I expect.

I felt like my career was at a crossroads with this round of hiring. Now that the decision is made, I know where I want to go, and it isn't into the lab. Their lives will shortly become a living hell. I look into the faces of my husband and child, and there is no way I will ever absent myself from them like that.

So, I've come to a decision. I'm searching for process-oriented jobs, now. I got feedback from the interview team that I would do well in a process or supervisory position. Mind you, I like casting a reflection, so I doubt that I'd ever sign a blood contract with management, but I would really, really like to get into a full-time technical writing job, or even into a job in which procedures are streamlined. I'm creative that way, and I can guarantee that I would shock the bejeebus out of a process team: "Hey! I have an idea! Let's cut the crap and use common sense!"

On second thought, maybe I'd just better pursue the tech-writing thing.

Still work-related, but on-topic (as explanation about where I've been, lately), work has been insane. Call volume is up, because we have a ton of new products that people are trying to deploy. (Oooh! Forklift upgrades! Cool.) We also have one hardware issue that is resulting in a higher-than-normal volume of warranty claims. We're being put through insane amounts of training to get us ramped up on the new products, and...somehow, someone in the Upper Echelon of the Soulless decided that it'd be a lovely idea to take a bunch of hardware technicians and turn us into software support. Let's just say that our learning curve has a 90-degree angle in it.

It sucks. We're all pissed, and morale is at the -13^th floor.

That's a lot of my day. No end in sight.

In the meantime, I have gotten some positive things done. I'm in charge of the site's Toys For Tots drive again. (Hooray!) And I got Operation Give added to the company's list of officially-supported charities.

In blogging news, it's taken me nigh a week to get it set up, but Loren finally decided to make a go of it on his own. I'm not good at HTML, folks. This was a lot of template hacking and break/fixing. But his site looks rather nice, I think. Go give him a look-see, if you like. He's already rockin' and rollin' at http://wolfgangvonskeptik.mu.nu.

Then, we've had some little stomach bug running around at home. There's nothing more miserable than a little one with a sick tummy. Mommy and Daddy can manage it, but it's been hard to get her to eat well for the last week or so. You can only find so many ways to serve up bananas, rice, applesauce and toast, you know? It gets boring. Hell, I'm bored with it. But last night, we let her have Mac'n'cheese. She ate almost every bite, and went to bed with a full tummy. She slept all night, too. Except for that rattly little cough still hanging around, she seemed to feel better this morning.

I'm beat, which is part of the reason why I have no tolerance for politics. I've already weighed the evidence. I know which way I'm going to vote next month.

There's lots more, but I have a meeting in a few minutes, and I want to inhale a little smoke before I dive into the breech again.

Have a good weekend. I know I will.

posted by Linda on October 1, 2004 05:30 PM