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End of year report
Progress on the New Year's Resolutions: Leave my job: Done that - and I better make the best of it. The slack pace at Stuff-u-Like means I've reached a level of idleness that probably makes me unemployable anywhere else. Sign a band: Disappointing - a number of bands I put forward, only to be rejected by the tone deaf halfwits at the label, are currently enjoying success elsewhere. Opportunities to try for a more discerning record company in 2007?? Stop buying dense management strategy textbooks in the hopeless belief that their knowledge can be passed to me via osmosis, rather than actually having to read them: Just the one. But, this is largely due to the lack of any requirement for effort at Stuff-u-Like Understand 'Beyond Good and Evil': Not finished, but I am enjoying it. Complete the screenplay, and get it optioned: Ok, so nothing you'll see in your local multiplex, but I have had 3 projects come to fruition this year Blog more often: Irredeemably hopeless as usual. Bench 300lb: Globo gym, for some unfathomable reason, doesn't calibrate the weight stacks - so it's an estimated 200lb, based on the number of plates. However, this preoccupation with upper body achievement leaves me somewhat bambiesque in the leg department. With ski season fast approaching it's time to revaluate my priorities. I'm taking a bit more time to ponder this year's
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1.1.07 20:13
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What a difference a year makes
12 months ago, the week between Christmas and New Year was ghastly. I was stuck at BigCo, just started working for a new boss I had no time for - with the prospect of very little to savour. This year, things were considerably improved. I'm lounging at Stuff-u-Like, with a comfortable set of numbers to achieve, and pretty much a free hand to do it how I wish. So, when I get the call from Miss Right on Thursday, saying she's in town doing a little shopping, and shall we meet for lunch? Then, yes, I'm going to consider my work/life balance, and clear off the afternoon's schedule. Those meetings will keep; I've got a whole day free on Friday. Well, apart from the time I'm spending with Miss Right Now.... Miss Right is alluring as ever, but I'm not quite as star-struck. I managed to drop in, casually of course, that Miss Right Now was my lunch date for the 'morrow - I think I'm getting my game back.
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1.1.07 22:16
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Think of a number
The end of December saw some frankly dire performance against plan; wiping about a third off the surplus I’d been building up. Looking at January, if things don’t pick up, I’ll be well into the red before the month’s out. This is not, good. Now obviously I want the figures to tail off towards year end - coasting to a respectable 100-105% of plan. But I expect to be intentionally stifling growth, not the victim of some unforeseen events. This calls for some concerted effort to get things back on track - I'm off to see Finance to have the forecast revised. Now the plan numbers are clearly wrong, but the usual response, at BigCo or elsewhere, would be 'mmm, yep we fucked up, good luck with achieving it'. However, in the warm and fluffy world of Stuff-u-Like, they're all very apologetic, and give me a figure lower than 06 actual. The unreality of it all is comical. I'll do just as little work; make just the same amount of profit; but now it'll be 5% over plan, rather than 20% below. Not bad for 1/2 an hours work - I take an early lunch.
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2.1.07 22:52
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Well That About Wraps It Up for God
Tobias Jones got a healthy spanking from Guardian readers for his ludicrous little rant accusing secularists of fundamentalism. My own personal criticism is that he's intellectually lazy, using atheism and secularism interchangeably. Secularists believe church and state should be separate. That decisions should be made based on reason, not the interpretation of a 2,000 year old novel. To varying degrees of intensity, secularists believe religion is bad. This is a defensible position which can be debated - putting argument and counter-argument for the benefits and harm religion has brought to humanity. I'm a secularist. So for me, the existence of God is fairly inconsequential. Don't teach children fairy tales, and call it science. Don't expect the majority of us to live by the rules of some 2,000 year old novel. Don't encourage the more dim-witted of your flock that flying aeroplanes into buildings is a fast-track to paradise. Apart from that, if you want to believe in God, Father Christmas, or the Tooth Fairy it's entirely up to you. Conversely, we have the atheists (currently championed by the depressingly pompous Richard Dawkins), trying to disprove the existence of God. If there is a more pointless exercise, I've yet to encounter it. Belief in God is a faith based position which, by definition cannot be proved or disproved. Dawkins, trapped by the ego of his intellect, remains forever stalled in a philosophical cul-de-sac. In fact, the only people dafter than Dawkins are those trying to argue against him, and 'prove' God exists.
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7.1.07 20:34
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The shame!
Friday was a dark day. A day that will live on, in infamy. I recount it here, not for sympathy, but as a warning, warning to you all! My boss sticks a teleconference in the diary for Friday afternoon to discuss my Personal Development Plan. It's going to be the usual thing: I take the relevant objectives the MD's dished out to him; and complete them. That way, he looks good, and gets his bonus. And, I look good and get mine. But, this is not great on two counts: firstly, I was planning to spend a good portion of the afternoon with Miss Right Now; secondly, I haven't exactly given much thought to planning, of any variety, since I arrived. The usual score is: "You know those vital projects I agreed with the Board, but didn't bother to tell you about - how are you getting on with them?" - so I throw some ideas together on a Gantt chart to pre-empt it: some activity for the next few quarters. So, the hour of the meeting. And he starts with "so, where do you see yourself going in the company? What can we do to help you get there?" - IT'S A MEETING ABOUT MY PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT!!!!! And I'm grabbing for 'recall message' in Outlook, but he's already opened it; and he's all "oh, this is interesting, is this your plan for the rest of the year; lets go through it at the next 1:1" So, voluntarily, unnecessarily, without coercion; I've committed, on paper, to doing some work..... I feel sick
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7.1.07 23:53
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6 month itch
I've renewed my subscriptions to the trades. Not that I'm actively looking, but it's nice to see what's out there...... I am, more than a little bored at Stuff-u-Like - it's so easy going, and I'm coasting along against my targets. There's a grave temptation to let it fall over, just to have something to do. Or to, perish the thought, ask for more work!
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10.1.07 19:23
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