Runaway Future

Alright, so I think it’s worth mentioning that The Coast has been doing some really good work lately. It started with Stephen Kimber’s articles on Rodney MacDonald’s war chest and Douglas Sparks side of the story in the HRM School Board sissy fit and it’s continued with Bruce Wark’s columns at the beginning each week.

More often then not, they’re profiling work in journalism, or the failings of that work. Naturally, it’s caught my eye and although, I want to write further about this at some other time (whenever I get time), I thought that highlighting this story is relevant:

This Bruce Wark column talks about the Daily News. Basically, the newspaper is cutting legit journalists in favour of a more entertainment skewed tabloid-esque format. I believe he calls it “vapid weeklies that are little more than vehicles for advertising.” and “soft as mashed bananas.”
Right, so it’s not like I respected the Daily News before, but that’s just pathetic.

Now to add to this, today on Entertainment Tonight Canada (I was watching because there was a story on Ellen Page, who I worked with on Wilby Wonderful), there was a mention about a guy being upset about the Junos featuring International artists more prominently then Canadian artists. The thought is that the Junos are a recognition and a forum for Canadian music, and so high profile performances by Coldplay and the Black Eyed Peas don’t really fill this mandate. In fact, they take the spotlight (literally and figuratively) away from Canadian artists and Canadian music. Now they even noted in this little news vignette that CTV probably won’t air this point of view because they’re the ones who own the TV rights to the show and are more concerned with putting butts in seats and in front of television sets across Canada, then recognizing Canadian music.

So to tie this back together, the Daily News is currently running a campaign to convince the Black Eyed Peas to stay and put on a show in Halifax. It’s really cute, there’s teenage girls writing in and saying how much they love BEP’s peppy rock, so on and so forth. But it would be a much better story if they pushed the angle brought up on Global, about promoting Canadian music and filling what the Junos are supposed to represent.

Sure get the chick with the ass to shake what she’s got at the Metro Centre, but don’t do it during a celebration of Canadian music.

I got back to the office at 130, I snuck in, threw my laptop into my office and snuck out. No one saw me. Now I’m at home, eating lunch, not wanting to go back. I just want to avoid the mind-numbing work until tomorrow. I want to lock myself in my office and do my own thing for the rest of the day. I’ll do work, but just to avoid everything else. There’s a lot to think about.
The meeting was decent. They talk a lot, talk fast, like they’re selling product. I’m apprehensive and anxious for the work ahead, there’ll be a lot of homework, a lot of work, a lot of learning to go on, but I can do it. After all it’s just syntax, I know what I want to say, I just need to know how to say it.
The best part by far was one on one with the lead developer, able to discuss logic, code, understanding what both sides are thinking. It’s a sychronisation that I miss at the office, I’m unable to discuss computer matters for too long without a blank look and the crossing of eyes.
Over the summer, Rabbi, one of the guys I worked with at the RCMP used to come out to lunch with me every few weeks or so. It was nice, keep grounded, bitch about computers and users (losers). Now he’s in Ottawa working for the Force’s mainframe.
I’m going to become a programmer again. It’s in the cards. The world works in mysterious ways.

So I was thinking about the game Pac Man,
and really, isn’t it just an anti-drug game?

You eat pills and all these ghosts are chasing you, trying to kill you as you run as fast as you can, eating pills and navigating the maze that is your life.
However, every once and a while, you come across a fruit, which is like healthy living and being clean, and as soon as you eat the fruit, you can turn around and do away with those ghosts that are chasing you.
But soon enough, you go back to the pills and the ghosts escape and the frantic chase is one again.

Alright, so I’ve always been under the impression that more then anything, the most important thing in the working world is professionalism. Be truthful, be sincere, work hard, if you don’t know something, admit it and then find out. It’s key in providing service to anyone you work with, be it clients, co-workers or bosses.

Obviously, not everyone shares this point of view. Sometimes during college, I would just shake my head at the way people approached the course. I goofed off and didn’t pay attention at times, but never to the extent where it was at a deficit to my education. I never knowlingly interfered with those around me so they could not learn. I took the subject material seriously, even if I didn’t take my course completely seriously at times.

However, it both frightens and appalls me that there are whole companies out there who don’t have this same approach.

First off is the company who I’m going to visit next Monday. They’re going to teach me how to do a whack of the work they should be doing, but can no longer do without additional financial contributions from us that quite simply aren’t coming. So I emailed them at the beginning of the week, to ask when I should drop by, because hey, they need to show me the system. Anyway, still no reply. This isn’t the first time where requests or emails or phone calls go un-answered with these guys. We’re their client and they can’t be bothered to return an email? Hmm, wonder why my boss ‘can’t be bothered’ to sign a lucrative maintenance agreement…

Secondly is a company I met with last Tuesday. They were trying to sell me a solution that would allow me to monitor my network a bit easier without leaving my desk. I have to admit, it would be very useful and make my job less difficult, especially considering the extra workload coming my way soon enough. So I listened to their spiel (even when the ear of one of the guys starting bleeding…yeah…sketchy) and then I had some questions. They didn’t know the answer to some of the questions (no problem, I don’t know things too, like backgammon, checkers or how to skate) and said they would get back to me. Sounds good.
Today, they called and asked if I was still interested in their product, what does my boss thing, blah blah blah. I told them that I was still waiting to hear back on the questions I asked him. He then proceeded to ask me what those questions were again. After some futzing at trying to remember (since they didn’t get back to me the week of that meeting, I had filed them under G, being prompt is very important to me), I proceeded to ask my questions again. He said he didn’t know and he’d find out. He asked if I was busy and he could ask someone right away, I said I had a meeting to get to, so he said he’d call back that afternoon.
That phone call never came.
Ok, so I’m a prospective client. First off, your company isn’t prompt in answering my questions, in fact you’ve forgotten them, secondly, you’re not calling back when you said you would. Geez, I wonder if I’m going to pass on your product to my boss for approval?

Sure it would be useful, but you don’t need an MBA to realise that service is important. How can I trust people to keep an eye on my network when they can’t even keep their word on returning a call?

I’m a client, and I demand to be treated better.

This has come up too many times in the past two months, so I’ll finally make a comment on it.

Seal hunters kill these.
They are not allowed to kill these.

Seriously, look it up. The whitecoats are usually less then 28 days old, and it has been illegal to kill them since the 1980s.
Surprised? Of course you are. Paul McCartney and his wife didn’t pose on the ice with the bloated and blotchy blob in the first picture did he? That’s called marketing.

I’m too tired to even begin to debate the finer points of whether the seal cull is ethical or humane or what have you. But please, at least bring back this one fact. The only reason why all the tree-hugging groups use the picture of the baby seals is because of the emotional pull.