Commuting on Thursday

Everyone seems concerned about getting into the office on Thursday. There must be something that I am missing.

It seems to me that since all of the streets around my office will be closed off to vehicular traffic, commuting will be even easier. I mean once you get all the idiots who drive into the city off the streets, it will be really easy to get around. People will be able to cross the street without fear of getting hit by the moron in the SUV that lacks an IQ great enough to use mass transit.

I will let you know how it really works out.

-- Andy

An Open Letter to My Employer

Before I begin, I want to admit that there may be something that I don't fully know about the project described below, and am willing to retract this letter if the work described below is due to fire safety, or some other valid reason.

Dear Employer:

Last week there was an electrician in the conference room once again. Changing the lighting around once again. I assume that this is not free. The fact that the electrician was unable to complete the work in a single day, also implies that the work is quite involved. Worse, my experience yesterday, seems to imply that the new layout will be for the worse when trying to dim the lights for presentations.

Why? Why are we doing this? What possible reason could justify us spending money like this? It just doesn't make sense to me.

We are a non-profit organization, we depend on the kindness of others to fund the work that we do. How would some small funder feel knowing that we are diverting money from what we proclaim to do, and wasting it on lights? (If we were a theatre company, I realize that lights would be a vital part of what we do, and therefore quite justified. We are not a theatre company.)

We assist other non-profit organizations. Some that are quite small, with no paid staff. What would their reaction be if they were to hear that the amount we have spent on lights (I am including the costs of the first conference room lights re-arrangement) is an amount greater than their entire budget.

I hope there is something I am missing. I hope to hear the response that the re-arrangement of lights is indeed vital to our important work. That the ends justify these means. Some persuasive argument that will change my whole perspective.

But I doubt that will happen.

So, the money is already spent. It makes no sense to have the electrician undo his work. What can this wonderful organization do to make up for this un-wonderful decision? Here is my suggestion. Whatever the cost of this current project the organization should cut a check for an equal amount to a charity. Think of all of those impacted by the tsunami, desperate for basics of life, not fancy lightbulbs. Think of how much more you could brighten up lives in Darfur than brightening a conference room.

-- Andy

Predictions for 2005

This seems to be the popular thing to do, so here I am jumping on the bandwagon:

A major land conservation deal will happen in a state that is not one of the usual suspects for land conservation.
Come December 31, 2005 I can tell you what fits into my definition of a major deal, and my list of states that are not on the usual suspects list (by controlling the definitions after the event, I am almost guaranteed success).

SQL Server 2005, and the .Net Framework 2.0 will be the most important releases from Microsoft.
It sounds like they are doing some really cool stuff with SQL Server, we will just have to wait and see.

I won't travel outside of the country.
Bummer. I sure hope this one doesn't come true.

The organization I work for expands the ways they communicate online.
A staff blog? A set of low-tech streaming videos (ala Channel 9)? RSS (I am not sure I really understand RSS, but I think it falls into the same category)? Something completely different? I am not sure. I can only hope that it follows on of these ideas in trying to get information out without trying to waste all their time making it pretty. The point is information, not all this fancy junk that just gets in your way.

With the elections out of the way, people donate money to things that really matter.
The tsunamis in Asia. The good work the so many non-profit organizations do every day. Other vital issues that come up over the course of the year. This is our chance to do good. Last year way too much money was wasted away on an election that didn't really do any good. In four years (or less -- egads!) we are probably going to waste away our money again. In the mean time, we need to do what's right and put our money where it really belongs.

VoIP
With the fact that over 50% of the American that have internet, have high-speed connections, this just seems to be the way to go. If you make more than a couple hours worth of phone calls each month, then a monthly payment that covers all your phone calls makes sense. Plus you don't need to deal with stupid phone companies.

Something completely unexpected (for the better)
Each day is a chance for something really cool an unexpected to happen.

Whatever happens, I hope that each of you has a wonderful new year!

-- Andy