Areas of Unrest

3 January 2001 - Borrowed Farm Equipment

QOTD: "A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems." - Paul Erdos

Reading: Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone

Listening to: nothing, since I should go to bed real soon now

Today was a rather frustrating day. We had an early morning meeting to discuss a minor reorganization at work, which was followed by a longer session with our new principal director. The part that frustrated me had nothing to do with him, but with the cynicism that pervaded the meeting. Then, I attempted to review a document, only to discover that my account on the computer system I needed to use had been deleted. The administrator for that machine had decided to do a massive cleanup and delete all accounts that had been inactive for over 90 days. It hadn't occurred to him that sending people email on the main network warning them about this might be a good idea. Essentially, this was a matter of somebody following policies without applying any common sense. So, instead of getting work done, I spent half the afternoon doing paperwork related to reactivating the account. I did get some work done on other things, but this fiasco means I will probably be inadequately prepared for some meetings next week.

After work, I drove to Long Beach for storytelling. I told my latest version of one of the stories I want to tell at the Malibu concert and it went over pretty well. We'll have to see what the Bards say tomorrow night, though. The business meeting after the storyswap was rather tedious. Essentially, we've got to get organized about using the money that Norman left us. We have lots of ideas about programs to put on, but no clear vision as to what we want to accomplish. I'm going to lobby for using some money to fund scholarships to storytelling conferences and workshops. Now, I just need to find time to write up a proposal.

According to a newspaper article I read the other day, it was the ancient Babylonians who came up with the concept of New Year's resolutions. The most common resolution they made was to return borrowed farm equipment. This struck me as a very good resolution, indeed, particularly as it's entirely inapplicable to my life. Be that as it may, I thought I'd amuse myself by listing the resolutions I would like other people to make.

Guy Who Has the Parking Spot Next to Mine: I will learn what the yellow lines are for and try to stay within them

Upstairs Neighbor: I will not rearrange the furniture after 10 p.m.

Evil Coworker: I will actually go to the meetings I take credit for attending in my weekly activity reports. I will only claim I participated in a meeting if I was there for more than half of it and said something out loud.

Milo (my boss): I will not use company letterhead to promote the Swinesweeper. (The Swinesweeper is a concept that involves training pigs to detect land mines. It used to be called Project BABE, for Boars Against Buried Explosives.)

Elliot (my brother): I will either move to a rural area or shut up about wanting to.

My mother: I will use the computer. When I run into trouble, I will remember that the teenager across the street is more likely to be able to help than my kids on the other end of the country.

As for me, I have about as much intention of following through on any resolutions as the other people I've made resolutions for. But I will return borrowed farm equipment.