Archive for August, 2007

A moral dilema or a song by The Clash

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

There is quite the revolving door of staff at work lately. Every Friday sees farewell drinks of some kind and some very close friends are about to make their exits. It is a tough position to be in personally as it leaves more for the old hands to pick up, more of our hard earned collective knowledge walks out the door and everything slows down while the new kids come up to speed on just how to get things done.

Since November last year, 1/3 of my team have left the company, 1/3 have transferred within it and that just leaves 1/3 sticking it out. In anyone’s book that is pretty high turnover and I lay awake at night wondering if I will be left holding the baby.

So now I have someone tapping me on the shoulder and asking me to move too.

It’s a shift job and with it comes a 45% loading which seems pretty good. It’s an area I am pretty good at with a few people I quite like. It’s also considered a really shitty and high pressure job – for the duration of your shift – then you handover and go home.

Which is where my over-burdened sense of responsibility kicks in and I feel guilty about abandoning a place I helped to set up. So much of the current structure was put together by me and I want to make sure it succeeds. Is it my ego that makes me think without me the whole thing may struggle?

The thing that worries me most about my ability to do the new job is my ability to sleep. I am the lightest sleeper in the house with the slightest thing waking me up and keeping me up. The cat is banned from my area of the house as she jingles through the night with her collar. Even one of the girls turning over in the other room can rouse me. I’m not sure I’m capable of getting through the day trying to sleep.

Perhaps I will let inertia make the decision for me.

Oh ferfuxache.

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

It looks like the pledge is in no danger whatsoever.

Billions in election War Chest

The Government has found another $3.7 billion in just over three months, taking the 2006-07 budget surplus to $17.3 billion — a large chunk of which it has vowed to invest in higher education and health.

So between last May and yesterday there was a massive spike in prosperity that gave extra billions for the Feds to splash around. Who would believe it? Whoever does their forecasting must have one of the lowest performance hurdles in the game. Them and warehouse purchasing managers – how else would they end up “massively overstocked” all the time.

I think it will be safe to tune out of politics again now.

In or Out?

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

There is a container lot near the Maribyrnong river that I can see from the train as I go past each day.

They seem to specialise in the transportation of vehicles. There is always some form of machinery parked near the containers. One week there was garbage trucks, frequently there are 50’s style cars with enormous fins, occasional muscle car appearances, but the most frequent item parked there are Nissan GT-Rs. On any given week I see between 1 and 6 of these cars parked there. They seem to the be the specialty of the place.

The one thing I can’t tell is: Are they being exported or imported?

So with my daily snapshot of cars beside an open shipping container I can’t really tell what the trend is.

Some fuzzy searching of drive.com.au etc. didn’t reveal a lot of them for sale so they don’t seem to be coming in to go onto lots. And there seems to be too many of them to believe they are going to pre-orders. It’s got me beat just where they might be coming from or going to.

Just how big is the grey market for cars anyway?

The Pledge.

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

The interminable death march towards the election that may or may not happen this year continues. I’ve noted before that I exercise my right not to vote most of the time. Sure I turn up and get my name crossed off to avoid the fine. It only takes a few minutes to wander down to the school and I’m a sucker for a sausage sizzle fundraiser whoever runs it.

“So Bruce,” say my hypothetical questioners, “how do you justify bitching about the results if you don’t take part in the process?” as they sit back with their arms folded and, usually, a smug look on their faces.
To which I reply, “If I find someone worth voting for – then I’ll vote.”

So I’m going to be clear on this. I am making a pledge. I will vote for the candidate or party that promises less.

Right now we have governments at all levels awash with our cash thanks to a booming economy and to match this we have them all spending like drunken sailors. Apparently the RBA has factored in the upcoming spending binge or as it puts it

“the surplus is expected to be a little lower in 2007-08, reflecting policy announcements”

Pork will rain from the skies. Any vote that can be bought will have mountains of cash thrown at it. They are paying for our votes with our own fricken money and I, for one, am sick of it.

I want to see someone, anyone, promise to do less with our money and as a consequence, require themselves to collect less of it from us. Don’t get me wrong; I’m no anti taxation, pure libertarian nut. I’m happy to hand over a fair share but things are getting out of hand. What will we do if/when the current boom ends?

So.

Any candidate or party that has it’s/their policy announcements sum up to a net change downwards in total budget spend will get my vote.

I feel confident I will be writing 0s in every box again this year. They just can’t help themselves.

S.A.D become H.A.P.P.Y.

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

Season Affected Disorder turns to Health Addition by Photon exposure Part Yearly. To kluge an acronym and describe how much better I feel about things now that I have seen daylight both before and after work this week.

It is time to come out of hibernation.

Work is now manageable although I am back doing 2 peoples’ worth of jobs again. The place is a bloody revolving door lately with farewell drinks for someone pretty much every week and new people bobbing up every second day. Heat. Kitchen. Etc. At least that is what I’m telling myself to justify hanging around. The daily rates for contractors are obscene lately. I wonder if taking the money and running will count as exercise.

I’m also in the home stretch to level 70. Those of you who know will understand that as a non-raider I might have more time for other things.

Happy Birthday to Uncle Dick. A beautiful weekend of parties up and Mum and Dad’s. It was great.

So I’m back at my banal best. Whada you can do.