Last night was pretty rough when it comes to sleep. I didn’t get to bed until nearly 3 and woke up not long after four, then dozed off again until 5, and then dozed off again until 6, and finally gave up at 630 or so and got out of bed and went to work. I had a cup of coffee at work for the first time in a few years. I’d not have made it through the day without one.
Work was more Nucor stuff. More phone calls. I also got a call from the US Department of Commerce. That was fun and educational. There was a small technical error with my filing which I had to correct and re-submit, which is being done Monday morning. Apparently, you need six copies filed and if you don’t, they won’t make the copies for you. They also don’t tell you that you need six copies until after you file — hell, they don’t even tell you how to file an objection. I guess most people use overpriced lawyers. Anyway, I am resending the complaint — and fixing a few typos — as well as sending a copy to the attorney of record for Nucor, this they assure me will put our complaint in the thick of things at will become part of this case for everyone to see, forever. If your company uses bolts or nuts, you really need to file a complaint, or you will be paying a lot more for your fasteners. Write me at work and I’ll explain what you need to do. I’ve helped a few dozen companies already and hope the follow through. I’ll probably work on an official corporate statement which we haven’t done yet, but as this gathers steam, it looks like we should. All my local competitors have sent in letters — I personally called them and even though we often hate each other, they realize this is banding together in this one instance for the greater good.
Came home and upgraded VMWare Fusion (my PC emulator for my Mac) and ran it only to find out that my emulated PC drive is gone. It was, apparently, lost when my HD crashed a month or two ago. I didn’t even realize it until today. It’s been re-installing Windows for damn near two hours. Blech.
Fran sent me this. Normally this might have gone out on my jokes list, but I decided to blog it instead. To make it easy to read, I’ve reformatted it and put it in purple.
How Gubmint Works (thanks, Fran)
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrapyard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.” So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job. Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?” So they created a planning department and hired two people — one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies. Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people — one to do the studies and one to write the reports. Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they created the following positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people to fill them. Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?” So they created an administrative section and hired three people: an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary. Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one Year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost.” So they laid off the night watchman. Now slowly let it sink in. Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter. Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the US Department of Energy during the Carter Administration? (see fact check note below) Anybody? Anything? No? Didn’t think so! Bottom line. We’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember. Ready? It was very simple and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate. The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Hey, pretty efficient, huh? And now, it’s 2009 — 32 years later — and the budget for this “necessary” department is at $24.2 billion a year. They have 16,000 federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees; and look at the job they have done! This is where you slap your forehead and say, “what was i thinking?” Ah, yes — good ol’ bureaucracy! And, now, we are going to turn the banking system, health care. and the auto industry over to the same government? FACT CHECK: the US DOE has as one of its missions That quote is from the US DOE website. So this article’s premise is reasonable if not entirely accurate. Not only is it funny, it’s political humour and commentary all rolled into one. Delta and Continental are still being poopy-heads and won’t give me my stupid 257 frequent flyer miles for a CO flight I took to MCO. I gave CO my DL number — they were partners on the date of the flight — and it appears on my paperwork. DL won’t give me the miles because they didn’t get the information and they lost what I sent. CO says they can’t give me the miles because they were sent to DL. Mind you, it’s not the miles: it’s the principle of the matter. I hate airlines. I heard from Timmy today for the first time in months. I’m going try and see him soon. Must sleep but am afraid to try.