Areas of Unrest

4 November 1999 - Uncommon Sense

QOTD: "Thought is always a risky enterprise to get involved in." - George Whitesides

Reading: Tony Wheeler, et. al., Lonely Planet Unpacked

Listening to: Snakefarm, Songs From My Funeral

Sometimes I wonder if there is any common sense left in the world. Today's L.A. Times had a piece about the pension for Sherman Block's widow. Block was the county sheriff who died last year while up for reelection. The way that public service pensions work here is that a work-related death means the surviving spouse gets a pension equal to the full salary of the deceased. Otherwise, the pension is only 60% of the salary. The relevant agency released their decision yesterday that his death was work related. Mary Joan showed the story to me and I said, "but I thought he slipped in the shower?"

As it turns out, he had survived cancer twice but did indeed die of a brain injury sustained by falling in the bathtub. Apparently the board deciding the matter must have assumed that if he weren't the county sheriff he wouldn't have had to bathe.

Before somebody wonders why I am begrudging some poor widow her due, Block was the highest paid public official in California, earning over $230,000 a year. His wife's pension is now higher than the governor's salary. Even had she gotten only 60% of his salary, her income would be a lot more than most residents of the state could hope to earn.

I am now wondering if I can deduct my annual expenses for soap as work-related.

In other news, I thought that I might escape traveling entirely this month, but I made the mistake of letting Milo know I was available to witness a test next week. It's going to be tedious, but I'll survive. And it gives me the chance to find out what the contractor is really doing.

I also had my performance review this morning, which was generally positive. But I have a key work-related decision to make. My former boss has just gotten a promotion. Two people from his department called me to let me know his job will be opening up. It could be a nice stepping stone - but I'm not sure I really want to go back to line management. Not that I even have an idea what my chances of getting the job are, or who else is likely to apply. I'll probably decide that I'm not interested and that, if I moved anywhere, it would be to another program office instead of back to the engineering group, but it was interesting that both of these people would want me as their boss again.

Like I said, the lack of common sense in the world is astonishing.