That I Oughta Kill

Chew on this:

Do you ever see a homeless
asian-american?

Ron mentioned this to me. And I’d have to say
‘no’. And I wonder why – he says that culturally (in very very broad terms)
the cultures of East Asia (see – I took comparitive non-western cultures and know
to say East Asian instead of Asian or Eastern) value any work above doing no
work – that asians will
do anything to have an income because they know that getting any job is the
first step towards getting a better job. Meanwhile, at the bus I hear other
minorities complaining about the immigrants stealing the janitorial jobs and other
blue collar positions in the city. I always feel slightly stifled even thinking about
these things – like just the fact that I’m a middle-class white male that that
automatically discounts any perspective I may have – that I feel guilty for
any perspective I have no matter how informed I think it is or try to be. Further,
and I’m going to go out on long thematic limb here – notice the perspective of
attitudes between the black and native american poor versus the poor of
other cultures – the immigrant cultures. I’m gonna stop now before my sister
kicks my ass with some spot-on social theory. She always sets me straight.

One of our new employees is from Andersen and it was fascinating hearing
of what it was like to work in a company that was imploding. Her biggest point
is that the audit business of Andersen was just one of four lines of business that
Andersen participated in. That a lot of expertise was thrown away and how, for
the most part the problems were localized by regional office. That initially there
was an idea to put together a penalty package for Andersen to pay out to show
deep regret and responsibility – the high road – but of course, self-preservation
kicked in an no one wanted to admit anything – and they all knew that if an
indictment came down that it was all over. And I have to say is
that her can-do attitude is pretty impressive compared to the jaded ‘why-bother’
perspective of Mark and I. She was quizzing us on who to talk to about comments
with the intranet and interface design and content and usability. I told her that
I deeply feel her pain and that I have given up trying to have any sort of effect
on the way the internal websites are designed. We told her the story about the
huge waste of money on a software application that the HR fairies didn’t put
through IT quality assurance before purchasing – and how nothing was done –
no demotions or reprimands. And how dis-heartening it is to know that the
talents of self-preservation for the higher-ups is quite startling. She’s a cool
contact to have though – I’ll probably employ her in helping me polish up my
resume.

Got a few coaching and web design leads I’m working right now – it’s pretty
exciting… got one lady that emailed me out of the blue and I don’t know how
she found me. She wants to change her career and wants a coach to help her
through it.

Something that is always lost on me in any transition or endeavor is the idea
of baby steps. That I need to gradually increase magnitude. That it is possible
to develop quickly but baby-steps (as I picture Bill Murray in
What About Bob?
) can be great stepping stones – even if accumulated
quickly.

Cross your fangers… (yeah, I said fangers): found a great deal
on a great apartment. An unheard of price for a great location. Going to the open
house on Saturday morning and gonna show up early with my check book. Ron
and I walked by and the outside of the building is amazing – right by the gym –
right by the grocery – near enough to my honey-pie – near Buca – near Kinko’s –
near the great used bookstore – the movie theatre… and it’s a one-bedroom.
Heather is worried that if I live in a studio I’ll have get cabin fever in the winter
and re-enact The Shining, albeit in a 10 x 10 foot space.

If you’re wondering what’s up with my entry titles lately – keep wondering…
it’ll make sense eventually.

Did anyone else here Carl Castle kick John Walker Lindh’s lawyer’s ass on
NPR. Oh yeah – Carl’s my wigga!

The often-inflammatory Michael Moore has a theory on why cigarette lighters
were not on the list of outlawed items to be brought aboard an airplane shortly
after 9-11 – even after that one freak tried to set his shoe on fire: the tobacco
industry called in a few favors
. For right now it sounds like a slight stretch,
but we’ll see if his FIA filings actually result in anything.

Anyone else scared shitless about this country? What the hell is going on? Is
there just a huge power-grab every where you look? I’m sure it’s nothing new but
at least it used to be glad-handing and not so frigging obvious…

Thanks Michael for the tips on Bangkok travel – I’ll keep in touch as our travel
date approaches. I do hope we go. The combination of smutty seaminess and
all the temples seems like a great combination.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

One response to “That I Oughta Kill”

  1. Sis Avatar
    Sis

    OK, only one comment.

    Perhaps the different perspectives on poverty and homelessness with the native americans and blacks are becuase 1) many blacks were brought to this country against their will. 2) native americans are immigrants, we are. So, perhaps their perspective on poverty has something to do with their lack of choice in either coming to or having to give up the country.

Leave a Reply to Sis Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *