Kickazz peeps!
Strongbad!
Ah, politics!

 
Sniff, sniff

Went to see Star Trek TNG: Nemesis today. Not bad, despite the Who Moved My Cheese? message at the end. I really liked seeing a Picard clone, and it's about freakin' time Riker and Troi got hitched... Still, my favorite character is no more... RIP, Commander Data. **cries**

 
Just a thought: how come people can't see bigger issues? Don't get it...

Another thought:

Flavor of the month: The Six Sigma Business Plan -- It's better than TQM!

And the New Economy is RECOVERING!

 
New Year's Resolution, Get Organized?

The only New Year's Resolution I've made to date was back in 1997, when I swore, "I'm gonna lose weight even if it kills me." It was successful-- I lost about 20 lbs that year. And I did it in my oh-so-P way, just kinda threw myself into the exercise world, started working out, and read about it as I went. I tweaked and modified as necessary, changing stuff as it suited my whim, and it worked just fine. Still, I've got enough Judging in me that sometimes I have to be moderately organized about something in order to not drive myself insane with all those, "What if?" thoughts.

So in my little bit of J for the day, yesterday, I bought myself an organizer. Not just any organizer, but the most anal of them all, a Franklin Covey organizer. Mostly I did, because they had a fitness themed one, and I'm finding that I need to at least get a new plan going. It's not a bad way to start out on a new track, anyway.

My history with organizers is a bit spotty-- I'm all over it, and properly organized, on paper anyway, for about two months, then I gradually abandon it, and slide back into Pness. It's good, in a way, because I really do have a good memory for events and things in the future. I don't need to write down the dates and times for, say, a civil service exam, because I emblazon it on my memory in letters of flame: TEST NEXT WEEK-- GOTTA STUDY. And I do!

Still, I'm panicking for when January 1 rolls around, because Covey, and the folks like him, are total freaks! For example, there's a detailed step-by-step for assembling your organizer. Step 4, for example, reads, "Registration Card-- Fill this card out and mail it to us. Once on our mailing list, you will receive our most recent catalogs, workshop notices, and product updates." Uh, yeah... Got enough paper from you already, thankie much!

The Weekly Compass Card is scary: "The Weekly Compass Card (TM) helps you focus on your roles and goals. To use the card, snap the pouch pagefinder into the rings of your binder at today's date. After reading the information behind the Planner Guide tab, complete your first Weekly Compass card and slip it into the pouch pagefinder."

And your daily list thing is even more frightening: a seven step guide to prioritizing EVERYTHING. There's even a Legend of Symbols on page 12 for you to "record your progress on today's list of tasks." No lines through it when you're done. No scribbles. Check this out:

Prioritized Daily Task List - PDTL
List the tasks you would like to accomplish for the day on the PDTL. Prioritize your tasks on the left [not the right :-P] of the PDTL with A, B, and C. [explanation of A, B, and C follows]

Then assign a number for each A, B, and C task to indicate in what order you will complete the tasks.

Legend of Symbols
Next to the prioritizing column on the daily format pages is a column where you can track your progress for task completion. Mark a check when you have completed the task. If you decide the task is no longer necessary, mark an X to indicate it has been deleted [what, you can't erase???].

Sometimes you must reassign a task to a future date. Mark an arrow to indicate this is the case. You might also want to record the date to which the task has been moved. Some tasks take time to complete. Mark a bullet to show that you have begun the task. Then, when you refer to your task list throughout the day, you will know the task is in progress [you can't REMEMBER you're working on it?]

Believe it or not, there's a LOT more to this... Basically, you're supposed to carry this thing with you wherever you go-- your little Pocket Tyrant (TM). You're supposed to take time to make a Personal Mission Statement, and there's a long section devoted to Goal Setting. I can tell you that I have never consciously written down, and gone through a goal setting process in my life on a personal level... I KNOW what my goals are, they are in my head, and they aren't small, niggling, and particular. And they aren't daily or weekly or anything of that kind. I think this whole thing runs completely anathema to the way my brain works, but since I've got a lot that I want to accomplish this year (either a Fellowship for the Master's or a public policy position for the county or state, if I don't get a Fellowship, get into grad school, get back into shape, etc.), I figure I should at least try to goalset, so my inner J won't drive me crazy...

Still, I wonder how long it'll take me to P all over this system... I'm not too optimistic ;-)

 
Damn, I'm addicted...

Another amusing thingie:

INTP Warning:

Do not feed the INTP any facts, however trivial. Given, for example, A manuscript of the Illiad, and a Hopi pot (c. 1860) the INTP will deduce the effects of the industrial revolution on cubist painting. Given slightly less information, say, a sherd from the same pot and chapters 3 through 7 of The Confessions of St. Augustine, he will be able to deduce the entire history of western civilization.


If you must feed facts to the INTP, please make sure they are highly detailed, and all related, such as in a spreadsheet. Because these data are detailed and highly correlated, there are no conclusions or deductions which can be drawn .


Spreadsheets are available in the kiosk to the left for a nominal cost of 25 cents per handful.


Thank You,

the Management

from An amusing link I found

 
A couple of random political thoughts I forgot about earlier...

You know, these mass detentions of people of Arabic descent that happened recently in California as a result of the Patriot Act freakishness, just reminds me of the SS marching. Hail de Vaterland! Gods, the whole term Homeland Security just sounds so freaking sinister. My boyfriend's freaked that he's targeted next-- he's a Canadian immigrant here on a temporary visa. Considering that two people from the Bay Area who were detained were in fact Canadian citizens (one was of Iraqi descent, the other Iranian), I don't know how irrational his fear really is. I'd be scared too in his shoes. As a left-wing dissident sort, I'm a little scared myself, what with all of the crazy, "either you support the war on terrorism or you're a terrorist" rhetoric coming out of this administration. Hell, it began as a subversion of democracy in the first place, why in hell would they care about rights or the Constitution...?

I joined the ACLU on Monday... Dunno what else I can do... I've been spreading the world of the detentions as much as possible, but some don't give a flying fuxor, and others think it's a good idea! What is becoming of this country??? Sometimes I'm ashamed to be an American.

 
Da Bidniss of America is Bidniss

My new hobby is reading all of the highly revered business tomes that corporate managers rave about. I'm not sure how this came about, exactly, but I think I was doing some book surfing on Amazon, and stumbled across a review for Who Moved My Cheese? This takes me to a bit of a story...

I used to work for a megacorporation doing just the kind of work that drives me stark raving mad-- clerical, detail-oriented, deadly routine garbage. After two years of hell, one of which was spent trying to figure out how to make file-folder labelling look good on a resume (I mean, 9 years of working full time and going to college for THAT???), I was downsized and sent to a seminar which served as my "outplacement." It was good in some ways, and bad in others. I identified stuff I liked to do that I had experience with, and in this crazy around-the-table getting put in the spotlight thingie, the seminar guy asked, "What do you want to do?" I just blurted out, "Dealing with international clients, negotiating deals, etc." I figured my gut response was the best one (amazing how you can psyche yourself into believing whatever...), so I started the process of researching all of these semiconductor or biotech firms to work for.

But that's beside the point... One of the things that was recommended to me in this seminar was the Cheese book on helping all of us poor unemployed schmucks on how to deal with change. I read it, and it left no impression on me, beyond the need to Sniff and Scurry and find New Cheese really fast, regardless of what I really wanted out of life. Just what corporate management nowadays wants you to think, ya think? Don't think, REACT! Oddly enough, the title of an Amazon.com review I wrote on the book...

So, I've read the FISH! book, The One Minute Manager, the other twoFISH! books, Raving Fans, High Five, etc. just trying to figure out what crazy intellect dulling drug these CEOs and middle managers, and Veeps and EVeeps had started snorting. All of the books propose a three or four part "fad" that is supposed to completely tranform your organization from top to bottom, and make it a wonderful fertile field for the growth of miracles, with employees who are so energized, they'll thank you as you send them to the soup kitchens simply to raise your end-of-year bonus.

The worst part is that all of these freaks really think that dressing as Elvis and handing out plastic fish will improve your productivity, and transform a drudge job into LIFE ITSELF. How many times do you have to hit yourself over the head with a hammer to really take that seriously? I'm stunned as I read the idiocy and drivel in some of these 100 pg. 15 pt. font books which inevitably have three or more authors (what, guy #1 writes a single paragraph, guy #2 writes the next one, and you're ready to publish???). Some people claim you can read them in an hour. I've found the longest one, FISH! Tales, to take a grand total of 30 minutes, with an average of 20 minutes being devoted to a single book. Is that hour if you spell every letter in your head, and sound out every word? From the intelligence the ravers exhibit about these books, I'm sure they must have to...

Interesting article on the Cheese book: Who really buys...? Reading crap like this, I'm glad I was raised an atheist...

 
Haha...

Idiot me joined an INTP mailing list, a daily digest of which contains ramblings on ISP traffic, silly meanderings about the meaning of e-mail spam, silly digressions on mathmatics, etc. Yawn. Dang, I must be the only INTP in the world who detests math and science... And I'm so lame with computers, my "link to" out of Outlook doesn't work when someone sends me a hyperlink... I have no clue how to fix it. Oh well...

In other news, ever have to deal with some nimrod who is so clueless, you wonder how they can breathe on their own? Hehe, I told one person off on Christmas. He then thought I was his best friend, and tried to spout secrets to me about the inner workings of this one message board he used to mod at. I told him off again... I'm hoping it takes this time. I mean, really, how in hell do you mistake the words, "I will never make the mistake of trusting you again!"? **rolls eyes and jumps off cliff**

Reading this one book called "The Introvert Advantage." What's interesting is that the author claims the introvert really needs to preserve energy at all costs. Um yeah... I know I'm a bit lazy, but it isn't any lack of energy... Hmmm... Yawn.

 
The first of many ramblings...

Guess I should introduce myself... Ok, I'm a 31 year old woman, who has recently discovered that she is among the 1.7% of US women who is an INTP. Actually, right now, that's one of the more interesting things about me. I'm working for a non-profit educational testing company, in a pilot program, in a customer service capacity. Strange, that...

So, what's an INTP? Introvered, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving. What's interesting is that I've done all of the online tests, taken the official MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator), the DDRI (or something...), and a bunch of others, which have all painted me the same way. If you've ever looked at anything related to personality type, you might notice that taking billions of tests, checking results, researching the science behind it, and other silliness of this sort is just stereotypical INTPness... I swear, I read all of the online descriptions of my type, and they just scream, "Elizabeth, Elizabeth!" I research silly topics of interest at length, and then drop them in favor of new ones as the fancy catches me.

Past research topics and temporary lifestyle choices have included the following: World War II, specifically the Balkans, Poland, and the former USSR; Tibetan art and Buddhism (I'm surrounded by statues...); personality type; consumer culture; career switching; East Timor; globalization; the art of propaganda, and a bunch of other miscellaneous topics. The one driving passion though, for me, has always been politics. I live and breathe and thrive on it-- from state level, to national level, to international level politics. International is my favorite :-) Of course, that fits into the whole "big picture" orientation that I have as an INTP (surprise, surprise). Associations and memberships are: ACLU, and the World Affairs Council...

Bored yet? Don't worry, even if this entry hasn't yet knocked you out, you will be catching some serious z's in another couple of days...