Go ahead, get on my case about harping about the evils of smoking. You may like to smoke, but I don't want you around me when you do. And if do you come around me, take a shower first. Just don't expect a good night kiss.

With that out of the way, it seems the country with the largest amount of smokers has potentially come up with a use for the filters of used cigarettes. You drop them in water, extract the volatiles from the water and use those volatiles to coat the inside of oil pipes and prevent them from rusting.

Weird, huh? Use known carcinogens to prevent pipes which carry oil from springing leaks. Who knew?!

you're too lazy to write porn.

Yes, on rare occasions I write porn. Not well and not often, but enough to satisfy some people who frequent Literotica.

Currently, I am caught up on work stuff, too lazy to study for my quiz on Saturday and too bored to continue working on one of three different stories.

People talk about depression being bad (I'm not depressed). It's not. It's the boredom.

if there was one time I could take a piss and not have someone else stop by. It's not that I'm shy, but dealing with people all day makes one want a moment of peace and quiet.

Standing there and having someone else come in and go take a dump with noises like something from Dr. Seuss does not allow one to decompress. Nor is it possible when someone comes in and tries to talk to you (yes ladies, there is a code in the bathroom). Of course there's always 'The Whistler'. Annoying is the word that comes to mind.

Peace and quiet are one of the two reasons bathrooms exist. If only solitude would be a third reason.

With Sunday being Pi Day, CNN is running a quick blurb about the whole affair. That's not what caught my eye (don't care about the day anyway).

No, what caught my attention was the picture they use(d) to accompany the story. For your reference.

If only...

This was the headline for a story on The Japan Times Online web site:

JBA sketches out plan for bj-league, JBL merger

It makes you think, don't it?

Here we go again. The annual Cosplay gathering in Tokyo and lots of pictures to show how folks imitate their favorite characters. Those wacky Japanese, what won't they do? Apparently full body shots because with few exceptions, the pictures are headshot only.

As a side note, the girl in blue hair in the main picture is somehow, intriguing. If only that shade of blue was natural (and she lived closer to me).

On a second related note, the group pictures of what appear to be flight attendants (towards the bottom), or maybe Macross show girls, is reason enough to smile (except for the one who looks bored).

Every time I hear some religious wacko spouting off about not allowing people who are born gay to marry because it would destroy the "traditional" sense of marriage, I have often remarked to myself, "Fine. If marriage between a man and a woman is so sacred, so traditional, let's outlaw divorce."

Now, someone has proposed doing just that! The full story and the story behind the story may be found at this link.

Obviously the chances of this happening are remote to non-existent. But, for those of you in California, or know someone from California, you might want to toss this tidbit their way and have them sign the petition anyway. What's the worse thing that can happen? The people agree and outlaw marriage?

As an aside, and related to this story, as some of the religious wackos spout on this subject that procreation is why marriage is the way it is, then they wouldn't be opposed to testing every man and woman who wanted to get married to see if a) they are capable of having kids and b) if they are going to have kids. If they can't have kids because God has made either partner sterile or otherwise incapable of producing offspring, or if the couple are not going to have kids, then they shouldn't be allowed to marry. Right?

That would certainly stop people like Rush and Elizabeth Taylor hopping from marriage to marriage.

That is not a misprint or some spoof. The title is exactly what this film is all about.

Enjoy!

It's one thing to hear and chuckle about the Peter Principle. It's quite another to be the victim of its main thrust.

It appears that my time with the government will soon be coming to an end. We have known for some time that our large room would be redesigned to accommodate more people (i.e. an influx of contractors). What we didn't know was the specifics.

We thought we would be forced to use the same desk configuration that the current crop of contractors use which is roughly a 6 foot desk set in a 4 foot space (essentially a 24 square foot space). That was bad because in our group we use our extra desk space to image/work on machines as well as other items.

I was just told that the new size of our cube will be 4x4.

I want everyone who reads this to trace out a 4x4 area, place your chair in it, then a PC, a pad of scratch paper, pens, pencils, a phone, extra notepads and miscellaneous papers. You see the issue, don't you?

My current space is somewhat luxurious in that it is approximately 48 square feet with plenty of desk space to put machines I am working on, lay out papers with notes I want to keep handy, my supplies and other miscellaneous items. In addition, because I sit next to a large support pillar, I have a small tabletop on which I can store other items if the need arises.

Now, if you take away all that workable space just to hire more people for friends of the governor*, where do you propose we do our work? That's right, in a separate room, away from our desks which means we can't answer our phones or email which means any calls we get won't be answered in a timely manner which means we'll hear about it from the higher ups when things don't run as smoothly (not that it is now, but I digress).

Many people have talked about working in a cubical farm and certainly Scott Adams has had years worth of material on the subject. However, this must be very near the top of outright stupidity when it comes to a work environment.

I've already told the supervisor who told me about the new plan that I'll be giving quitting if they go to this format, so it looks like I only have a few more months of employment. I could go to the Union** and file a complaint but since I'm not a formal member***, they'll probably ignore me unless I pony up more protection money.

Now, there is a possible out. I applied for a low-level managerial position so if that comes through, I can avoid this but, the office I will be placed is still half the size of where I am now. But at least I'll be getting experience so I can finally move out of here.

So, anyone looking for a low-level project manager or jack-of-all-trades?

*It is a well known fact that Deloitte Consulting, who gets the vast majority of state contracts, has people who worked with and for the governor. Their contracts run for years and cost the state tens of millions of dollars, all because the contracts do not specify that state workers should be taught what the contractors are doing, thus, the contractors stay around near indefinitely.

As point of fact, our current ERP software project is 102% over budget and there is at least another year to go before it approaches some semblance of closure.

**The Union makes a big stink about protecting the workers, but has over the last decade, when contract negotiations have come up, continued to give away more and more "benefits" while insuring the incompetent can't get fired. Next to the mafia, they're great at sucking money from people.

***There are two classes of non-managerial employees working for the state. Full Union members and fair-share members. I am of the latter. Essentially, we pay a fee to the Union for getting us our jobs, our benefits and salaries and all the other sundries. Fair-share member fees are determined by a formula but it is less than a full Union membership.

Officially, the Union must represent fair-share employees with the same diligence they do full Union employees. In practice, you're generally laughed at or told to join the Union first before they'll file a complaint.

Not sure what else needs to be said. Young, nubile and cute (mostly) Japanese women on display showing lots of leg and inviting smiles.

Oh yeah. They're helping show off the newest games, blah, blah, blah.

One has to wonder when the assault against reason and common sense will end. It's bad enough there are those who think that a religious precept is a valid scientific principle despite not offering any testable evidence to support their claim, now we have the second largest state in the nation claiming that Neil Armstrong is not a scientist and that 5th graders shouldn't have to memorize his name as the first person on the moon in their social studies class.

I'm not sure how someone with two different engineering degrees who used those degrees to help progress both the aeronautical and space programs can not be considered a scientist.

Texans may like to claim that George W. Bush is not one of them, but continuing to do stupid things like this does nothing to disprove the linkage.

At this point in time, the Republican party should just give it up when trying to claim they're for family values. Between Reagan's divorce, Rush's three marriages, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's lying about where he was for almost two weeks to cover his taxpayer funded escapade with a mistress, and now, in a similar vein, former Republican Assemblyman Mike Duvall who was caught on an open microphone talking about not one but two mistresses. Did I mention that former Assemblyman Mike Duvall is married and has two kids? For bonus points, former Assemblyman Mike Duvall was given a 100 percent rating from Capitol Resource Institute, a conservative advocacy group, for his votes on legislation considered pro-family during the 2007-08 legislative session.

Here's the thing that really amazes me (ok, amazes is too strong a word. Let's go with "causes me to laugh and shake my head"). In the most recent cases of marital infidelity, neither person had any qualms about doing it. In the case of former Assemblyman Mike Duvall, here are his actual comments when resigning from the Assembly:

"I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state."

Inappropriate comments are the reason you're resigning? Not the fact that the you were cheating on your wife with TWO women, not the fact that one of them is apparently a lobbyist with an energy firm the state does business with, not the fact that you told the one she might have to be traded in because she's 36? Really? You're resigning only because your comments were caught on an open mic?

It's quite obvious that neither party has the high ground when it comes to moral character. However, for the Republican party to keep trying to claim they stand for family values when practically every month someone from their party is caught having an extra-marital affair, it boggles the mind that people out there still believe the lies (to get on the coattails from last night's Presidential address to Congress).

Get over it folks! The Republican party doesn't care about family values. They're merely parroting the comments of the Christian Terrorists© which are hijacking the party. All the Republicans care about, just like the Democrats, is that you drink the Kool Aid and don't look too hard behind the curtain.

It no longer amazes me, though it still pisses me off, at every attempt I make to try and improve myself, a door is slammed in my face. Every step I make is calculated to improve myself not only for my own well-being, but to make myself a more valuable employee to my current employer as well as those in the future.

Yet, despite me taking these initiatives, I am continually thwarted in my attempts to progress. The most recent incident involved what would have been a time and money-consuming step to get another degree. In this case, it would have been for IT Project Management.

A little background is in order. When I first started my educational endeavors, I did a dual major in Photography and Business Administration. While I pursued my degrees, I worked 40 hours a week and paid for every dime of my education out of my own pocket. No scholarships, no loans, no grants, no nothing. The entire burden was on me.

When I pursued my Bachelor's degree in Paralegal Studies, again, the money came out of my pocket though in this case, my parents and I split the tuition/room/board 50/50. However, anything else, books, transportation, entertainment, that all came out of my pocket. Again, no scholarships, no loans and no grants though I did, finally, get a student loan in my final semester.

I worked on weekends during school and when I came home during break, I worked as many hours as I could so I could pay for the next semesters schooling. As some professor said to me back in my original schooling, "You're burning the candle at both ends."

So now, after moving about in my career, I find myself in a position where I am completely bored without any chance of promotion in the immediate or near future. Yes, getting a paycheck is nice, but at what cost?

So, earlier this year, I decided I would get (another) degree but in a more concentrated field for which I know I would enjoy. Specifically, project management.

I say this because it's quite obvious to anyone who works with me or who I support that this line of work is perfectly suited to me. When I am in charge of small-scale projects, they ALWAYS come off without a hitch so long as people follow my directions. There is no confusion as to what is to take place, when it is to take place, what equipment is needed at the location, etc. I take care of everything and, apparently miraculously to everyone involved, the work gets done on time, on budget and without problems.

So I met with a local university who offered a degree in IT Project Management and went through the process of submitting the required paperwork, getting my transcripts sent (at my cost of course) and waiting on the results of how many courses I could transfer in.

Mind you, I have 3 degrees already and have taken several IT-related courses which helped me get to this point, all of which were paid out of my own pocket.

As the orientation was fast approaching, I finally received the final notification of what courses I would need to take to complete this degree.

69 credit hours is what I would need. 69. Yeah, go ahead, laugh. It's not funny.

If I take two courses a semester, it would take me four (more) years to complete this degree while again working a full-time job.

If that wasn't bad enough, there were four courses for which I was refused prior credit. Two were programming courses (intro 1 and 2) and two others dealt with network security and communication networks.

Now, having already taken two programming classes way back when, I figured there had to be a mistake. So the counselor appealed the decision and was told that programming had changed too much between I took those courses (roughly ten years ago) and now.

Huh? Maybe I'm missing something but programming still involves creating functions and loops, correct? The only thing that has changed are the languages.

Further, since I'm already working in the IT field and dealing with network security and communications network, I should have been able to get credit for those courses as well.

Nope, I had to take 6 credit hours and then petition the Chancellor with written evidence that I could bypass those courses.

Did I mention that despite all the courses I have previously taken, I would have had to take a literature course as well as U.S./World history course?

When I called the admissions counselor I told her there was no way I could pursue this degree and be able to finish it in anything resembling a reasonable time without getting credit for previous courses taken as well as life experience. The only way I could do so would be to quit my job and go full-time to complete the degree.

Further, I told her, quoting General George Patton, "I don't like paying for the same real estate twice."

So there you have it. Another door slammed in my face when I try to improve myself. I looked around at the few other colleges and universities in my area and see the same pattern. One of them even requires a foreign language class as part of their IT program which begs the question, "How many of you need to know a foreign language to do your job?"

I've read the various articles posted here about changing careers later in life (of which I am technically part of) and while it all sounds good, the huge (and ridiculous) barriers that are placed in ones path to get somewhere makes one realize it's probably easier to be a loan shark than it is to further ones education or career goals.

So the question is, do stay at my current job, though it holds no interest for me and I have to delete emails for one of the higher ups so he can send email*, or do I quit my job, take time off, maybe write about what I've experienced and go from there?

As I said in a previous posting, I am literally a jack-of-all-trades. You can put me in just about any IT position and I can do the work. Not as well as you but give me a day or two to get up to speed and I'll be shoulder-to-shoulder with you. I pick up on things so quickly that trial-by-fire has lost all meaning to me.

I was counting on this ability and my broad experiences to leapfrog me to a better position. Sure, I don't know everything, nor will I claim to. If I can't do a job, I'll tell you but I'll still give it my best shot if you want me to do it anyway.

The biggest issue is that everyone wants to see some piece of paper claiming you have the educational background to do a job OR some outlandish years of experience. I have literally seen job postings for junior PMs that require either a B.S. and 7-10 years of experience or a Masters. For a junior PM!! What, are they designing, starships?

So, the floor is open. Opinions wanted and solicited. Let's see what those of you in the ether of the Net have to say about this conundrum.

*No, I'm not kidding when I say I have to delete emails for one of the higher ups. He is either too lazy, too stupid or too incompetent to delete emails he no longer needs. He has his secretary, who has access to email, call our helpdesk to have one of us delete enough emails so he can send messages.

Did I mention he's an attorney?

Ok, so it's not really a news flash. Those who inhabit this electronic environment are fairly cognisant of the lack of basic scientific knowledge of the general public. In fact, a recent survey by The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press continues to reinforce the fact that a majority of Americans are both ignorant and skeptical of basic scientific principles such as Evolution, as well as sciences role in our every day lives.

The complete report may be found at this link. There are two areas I do disagree with from those in the scientific community. First, while it is indisputable the climate is warming, it is not entirely convincing that man is the sole source.

It could be us. We know we throw metric elephant loads of crap into the atmosphere every day. It could also be a natural occurrence which is conveniently happening at the same time as we pollute the air. Or it could be a combination of both. More research is needed to determine the who and what.

Second, when it comes to animal research, I don't agree with the scientific community. There is no reason to use animals to test drugs or products when there are millions who would volunteer to be guinea pigs. After all, we're the ones going to use this stuff, not a rabbit or pig.

Paul Graham