21 June 2005 - [multiple entries]

 Benjamin Franklin wasn't talking about us, Commissioner.

I woke up Saturday morning and logged into my work email. Up pops an appointment, sent at 6:08PM on Friday night, inviting me to a "Commissioner's Roundtable" on August 17th. Our beloved Commissar Commissioner likes to have quarterly feel good meetings with several random DWD employees. Purportedly, these discussions are supposed to allow him to get feedback from us on "what's working and what's not" in the agency. Knowing that absolutley nothing I say will either impact the speed at which the Daniels administration is attempting to kamikaze the IT infrastructure of the state government, nor will it prevent me from getting tossed out on my well-cushioned hind quarters come next February, I'm somewhat reluctant to believe this claim.

So during my dubiously-obtained day off yesterday, I checked my mail once again to notice that they'd scheduled an agency-wide "Town Hall" meeting for this morning. We had one of these a few months ago, and apparently it's another of our esteemed Commandante Commissioner's quarterly hoo-dads. It's basically half of the agency at a time (because even just the administrative staff can't all fit in the largest auditorium here at IGC) crammed into an auditorium for an hour and fifteen minutes while the Chancellor Commissioner and his team blow a lot of smoke and sunshine up our collective skirts (I'm never quite sure how that figure of speech works, so I thought I'd throw both "smoke" and "sunshine" in there for good measure).

Anyway, our revered Cardinal Comissioner closes this "meeting" by quoting Benjamin Franklin. Yes, that's right. When discussing how we should all stick together during this time of change and commotion (doo doo doo doo) here at Teh Agency, he actually said "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

GAH! STOP IT! Benjamin Franklin uttered those words on the eve of an undertaking the likes of which you and your Stepford Republicans will never understand! And what about those of us who have already been condemned to "hang separately?" How are we supposed to feel? You're relying on the good will and dedication to the betterment of their fellow Hoosiers to motivate a staff of scared, intimidated, demoralized, underpaid and generally unappreciated souls, some of whom (like myself) know that by Feburary of 2006 there will be no place for them in Workforce Development.

Exactly how the hell is that supposed to motivate anyone?

To add insult to injury, this administration's constant stream of new rules and regulations have served only to alienate and frustrate a body of state workers who feel as though they're being treated like children. Here's a hint Mitch (and every other Bushite, buzz-cut Republican who're collectively ruining this country faster than you can say "the Democrats were almost as bad"): If you treat a man like a man, he will succeed or fail on his own merits. If you treat him like a child, he will never realize his full potential and will resent you forever.

Okay, work rant over.

I just learned that our old CIO is now the CIO for the City of Indianapolis. He was a pretty decent guy (even if he was a party man - at least it's the *other* bloated and paralyzed major party). Maybe I can get a gig there.

-Sam

My people have done it again.

"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread scotch eggs from Heaven to eat."

You may ask yourself how someone who prides himself so on his Scots heritage had never tried the tyrannically delicious appetizer known as scotch eggs. I'd heard of them, and even seen them on menus at some of Indy's more authentic pubs. To be truthful, they kind of scared me. I mean - eggs, encrusted in sausage and deep fried? Even a fatty like myself has some limits!

However, Friday night myself, Ben and Eric visited the Broad Ripple Brewpub for some general geekery. This is one of Indianapolis' better places to get what I like to call "pub food" - burgers, tenderloins, fish and chips, onion rings, etc. Pub food is pretty much my favorite food in the world. One of the staples of pub food is the scotch egg. I'd seen it on the menu the last time we were there and declined to try it. This time, Eric and I decided that we would be adventurous and give them a whirl.

I've never wanted to apologize to food before, but I wanted to take these Eggs of My Forefathers™ into my arms and beg their forgiveness for all my years of mistrust. Scotch eggs are the greatest food I have ever tasted in my entire life. Ever. Ever ever ever.

Then I had Lawnmower and some fish and chips. It was a great night, but I think my heart is still angry with me.

-Sam

Generic Post-Weekend Update

We had a pretty good weekend. Sunday we played some D&D (and I successfully engaged a Beholder in hand-to-hand combat...w00t) and had a nice night at the house together. Jess is still a bit under the weather, so I was up pretty late Sunday night. I ended up taking yesterday off work, which I probably shouldn't have but I wanted to be home with her one more day. With any luck, she'll be able to return to work tomorrow and I won't feel so guilty for leaving her to rattle around in our apartment by herself.

The annual July 4th Indianapolis Ars meet is slowly building steam. We even have a pair of crazies gearing up to make something like 300 postickers. I need to get on Jeff to get me a list of beer I can get in keg format from the liquor stores in Zionsville. Last year we did a keg of Blue Moon and a keg of Rolling Rock (for the plebs man, for the plebs). This year, the rumbling is that we'll stick with a couple of kegs of something good, or maybe even drop down to one keg. Jessi's also hell-bent on making lemon bars from scratch, which I'm sure will please at least one half of the Ars Potsticker Commando Team. This will be the fourth July 4th meet I've attended and I've had a blast at every single one.

Goals for this week:
Yeah...that'll work.

-Sam

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