A Hell of a Mess...

One step back, and another step forward

In my last post, I made a statement about being largely over the whole issue regarding my leaving of this particular travel board.  That was, however, until I read this thread, which raises a similar issue to that which I raised back in late September.  Predictably enough, it was locked for "further comment," which (if it's anything like the issue that I raised five weeks ago) will never happen.

When it was locked, though, a post made last night by a user (who also shows as suspended, possibly for this post itself) was also deleted.  This post (which was made at about quarter after 10pm Pacific time last night) says the following (quoted entirely verbatim -- I cached it from an old version of the now-edited thread):

I've been noticing more of this in the past week or so and it's getting quite irritating. I've had a few of my posts vanish without comment.

I had another post in which I reported a post made by a Mod who used profanity and attacked a couple of different groups of aviation industry workers. Guess what, my post in response was deleted, the mod's profane post was left, and I was accused of taking the thread off topic.

Moderation is getting completely out of control, and it's more clear than ever that mods are looking out for each other and play by their own set of rules.

What I think is the saddest thing of this whole affair is the fact that the actions of the moderators (and the now-former owner of the website) only serve to validate and legitimize the complaints that are being brought forth.  Someone raises an issue that they don't want to be raised?  Get rid of the evidence and lock the thread so that a) no one else can say "Me too," and b) it can be summarily ignored for the amount of time it takes to have the thread drop like a stone off the radar.

I never really had issues with this website until now, and I didn't think that this website had issues with me until now.  But neither of those appear to be the case anymore.  I guess that's what happens when you're not in the group of people who happen to be above the law.

That was my step backwards.  My step forward, however, is bigger and better.  Yesterday, I left work early to go up to the university and put in a "graduate special" application.  This allows me to take a few  classes towards my masters degree without applying for the grad school itself.  I'll do that eventually -- I have to, as they'll only accept nine credits from a grad special status towards the degree -- but it's the only step I can take to go to school next semester and work towards that degree, given that grad school applications were due for the spring no later than October 15.

With my work schedule, I should be able to finish this degree by the fall of 2010.  We'll see how that goes.

Life moving on...

For about six years, I was a regular poster on a certain Internet bulletin board site, dealing primarily with travel and travel-related issues.  For a number of reasons -- most notably, the fact that the moderators of the site are largely immune from the rules that they themselves are designated to enforce -- I ended my participation on that site approximately one month ago.  And I'm okay with it, for the most part.  I'm not sure I'm okay with the fact that the questions raised surrounding this issue have been completely and utterly ignored, but I'm also not surprised in the least that they've been ignored, given the past track record of someone who claims to take these sorts of issues seriously. I knew that going in, though, so that makes it easier to deal with.

Again, though, life moves on.  The site will move on, and so will I.  Besides, I have bigger things to concern myself with.

Thursday (being the last day before our state holiday observing Nevada Day) was the last day for my co-worker, Tina, who gota job in the private sector.  She's making more money and eliminating her commute, so I really don't blame her for doing it.  Besides, I don't think that she was ever really happy doing what we do, so it was only a matter of time before she pulled the trigger for her departure.

What this ultimately means for me is several things:

1. A lot of the things that she was doing behind the scenes are now my responsibility.
2. We get to hire someone else (and hope that this person will work out).
3. I get to think about my future a little bit, too.

I'm not unhappy in my job.  I like what I do -- most days -- and I like the people I work with -- most of the time.  I've wondered, though, whether it's something I'll be doing for the next twenty-five years, and right now, I'm not sure of that.  I guess the important thing for me for the near future is to get through life moving on around me, move on to the priorities that are important in my life, and see what happens.

And as for the travel discussion parts?  I think I've moved on to something better.

Remember me?

Yes, I know.  I've been bad at this whole blogging thing.  For a while, though, I got busy.  And when I wasn't busy -- well, I guess I was just lazy.

Since I last posted, the following things have happened:

1)  The legislative session ended, and I survived.
2)  I went on vacation and survived.
3)  I went on a work-related trip to Maine and survived.
4)  The donuts are still around, and they've somehow survived.  (More on that in the next post.)
5)  Britney Spears' new lips are not hot, especially when it appears that she is trying to fellate a drinking straw.

There are all kinds of things that I've wanted to do with this blog, for no other reason than I can.  Maybe I'll find some free time here in the near future to do that.

If the Shelf of Crap were a virtual shelf...

...there would definitely be room for Alanis Morrissette's cover of "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas.

March in review

Another month gone by.  Shame that I spent the entirety of it at work.

And when I say that, I'm not kidding.  I've been in my office every day for the last thirty-six days, with no day off in sight.  When we're not even half way through the session, that's not encouraging.  If I don't get a day off between now and day 120, I believe that the last day of session will be the 99th day in a row.

I hope I don't get there.  The money is nice, but a day off would be a nice tradeoff, too.  Oh well.

Today was the first full day of baseball.  And while I always look forward to it, I won't be in full swing until hockey season ends.  That would officially happen for me at the point that the Sharks get my hopes up, only to be dashed at the hands of some Canadian team.  The only bright spot, I suppose, is that I'll be too busy working to watch that agony as well.

I'm really glad that they only do this for 120 days every two years.

I don't usually watch reality TV...

...but I've decided to make an exception for a little while.

Specifically, I'm talking about the ABC show "Dancing With The Stars."  I'm sure I'm not alone in this reasoning, but I really want to see whether Heather Mills' leg stays attached to her while she's dancing.

The best part about the whole thing?  Not only can you watch and see what happens, you can bet on whether or not it does, too.   At just over 4-1, I'm tempted to take the yes.

The most exciting places you've ever been

Every year, I pick a place that was the most exciting place I'd been that year.  The criteria aren't that difficult for this decision:

1. I actually had gone there that year (go figure); and
2. I'd never been there before.

In 2006, for example, the most exciting place I went was Toronto, followed closely by Niagara Falls.  While I'd been in the Toronto airport on a couple of occasions many years ago, I'd never been in the city before.  Looking back at previous years, I get a list that looks something like this:

2005 - Albany, New York.  (I didn't get out much that year, thanks to biennial sessions of the Legislature.)
2004 - No award was given.  (I was finishing school and didn't go anywhere I'd never been before.)
2003 - Luxembourg City.  This was part of the trip to Europe made possible by $20 tickets from San Francisco to Frankfurt.  Amsterdam ran a close second on this one, and New York City was a close third.
2002 - Dallas.  We spent a couple of weeks on a road trip to Dublin, Texas, with the sole purpose of obtaining Dr Pepper.
2001 - Yosemite National Park.  I've lived no more than a few hours from it for most of my life, but I'd never been there until I was 27 years old.  Go figure.
2000 - Whistler, BC
1999 - The Mall of America in Minneapolis.  Meat Loaf was having a book signing that day.  (Second place goes to Charleston, West Virginia, which should tell just what kind of year it was.  No offense, of course, to those of you who live in West Virginia.)

The fact that many of these years have awfully boring exciting places notwithstanding, I bring this subject because the "winner" of this "award" back in 1998 - the very first Wendy's, located in downtown Columbus, Ohio - closed on Friday after nearly 40 years of operation.  I'd gone to a toy convention there for a day back that spring, and ended up going there for lunch because it was the only thing open in downtown Columbus on a Saturday afternoon.  (Or so it seemed.)

I'm not sure I really have a point to this whole thing, other than to say that -- for many years -- my life was awful sad if a fast-food restaurant was the most exciting place I went to all year.

Another month in review...

When I said a while ago that my job was going to take up far more time than I would have liked, I wasn't kidding.  I did manage two Sundays off this month, though -- one because I was sick -- so it could have been far, far worse.

Work-wise, there really isn't much more to say than that.  There are 96 days left in the 2007 Session of the Nevada Legislature, and I think it only gets longer from here.  I guess I'm lucky that I'm only working 60 to 65 hours a week right now.  I'd venture that, come April, I'll be there closer to 80 hours a week. 

(Whoever said that government workers don't do anything needs to sit in my shoes for a day or several in the next few months.)

My grandmother passed away last Monday (about ten days ago), at the age of 91.  Her hip surgery went fine, but I guess it was time nonetheless.  I'm sad for obvious reasons -- after all, it's family.  It's also a little more sad for me, I think, because this was my mom's mom, and there isn't a whole lot of her family left.  With my grandmother's passing last week and my mom having passed nearly ten years ago, the only one left in my mom's immediate family is her sister -- my aunt -- who had been taking care of my grandmother for the last few years.

She didn't plan any services, so I'm not missing any work to go up.  I hadn't been up to see them for about five months, though, and I'm sad that I didn't get the chance to go up one more time.  But there's not a lot I can do to fix that now.

Aside from that, life is being its usual self.  I'm due for a donut update -- I'll try and get that done in the next few days.  I've also been remiss in providing other posts -- namely, additions to the Shelf of Crap -- so I'll ponder something heinous to add to the list here.

Today's random thoughts

1)  I will not be discussing the death of anyone who has died within the last week or so.  Unless, of course, for the guy who played Abraham Lincoln in an episode of "Star Trek."

2)  Today was Day 5 of the Nevada Legislature, and my twenty-sixth day of work in a row.  The odds are good that tomorrow -- the twenty-seventh in a row -- will be the last in this streak.  (I hope.)

3)  The upshot of Saturdays at work during session are that I can go in later.  And by later, I mean 9.  I know that doesn't sound like much later, but I'm going in at 7, which (combined with a 35-minute drive), means that I'm waking up well before 6.  The extra two hours of sleep will come in handy tonight.

I really have nothing else to add tonight.  Maybe I'll do something productive with my blog on my (potential) day off.  We'll see what happens.

On-the-job training

As the story supposedly goes, Lisa Nowak -- the NASA astronaut who drove from Texas to Florida to have an unfriendly encounter with her would-be boyfriend's girlfriend -- carried diapers with her on the 1000-mile journey so she wouldn't have to stop.

The fact that she's accused of attempted murder notwithstanding, there is something that NASA can possibly be proud of here.  I guess their astronauts are learning something from being stuck in a spacesuit for hours on end, and can apply that to the world outside of the Space Shuttle.

(However, I digress.)

I like telling my friend Stephanie that Susan Smith (that woman from South Carolina who drove her car into a lake, with her kids inside) was sort of hot, in a psychotic way.  I do this mostly because she went to grad school at the University of South Carolina, so she's quite familiar with the story.  The reaction is always predictable:

• She first tells me just how white trash Susan Smith was (with some comment about her getting pregnant while she was in prison thrown in for good measure)
• She then tells me about how her former boss owns Susan Smith's dining room table, because no one else in the family would buy that.  (I then tell her that I'm willing to buy the table from her former boss.  I'm not quite sure she believes me, though.)

When I first saw the mugshot of Ms. Nowak, I had a flash of Nick Nolte go through my head:

The stories kept coming and coming, though, and soon enough, news agencies throughout the land were printing this Nolte-esque moment alongside her official NASA photo:

I have to admit that my first reaction to this photo is that, once you take away the dirty diapers, 1000-mile car rides, and the lunacy, Lisa Nowak is kind of hot.  Whether this means that she's the next Susan Smith, I don't know.  But if anyone knows if her dining room table is for sale, please let me know.  I'll buy it.