10.28.2005

OK, so not as much time for blogging as I had hoped

Yeah, I forgot that the original reason I blogged so much was because I had so much dead time at work. Unfortunately, that (all the dead time) maybe also led to being laid off. Because Congress can spend a bazillion dollars building a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, but cuts the funding for air traffic control prototype software (which is what I was working on).

I've actually been busier without a job. I've got a to-do list a mile long, and I've barely made a dent in it. Of course, finding a job is like a full-time job in itself, and finding a job in another city is 10 times as difficult. A lot of potential employers won't even talk to you if you're not in town. But I'm taking the layoff as a chance to finally escape Washington.

I had a good interview at "Mister Softee" out in Seattle last week, but I'm still waiting to hear an offer. Seattle... is like... THE BEST. Every time I go there, I wished I lived there. Maybe now I can. Other than that, I've been trying to keep busy and not spend too much money. Right now I'm confined to the couch with a sprained ankle... so at least that's free.

If there was one thing I would have liked to have blogged about in the past few months, it would have been... THE DAY THE BULLSHIT ENDED.

Of course, the bullshit never ends. But in one shining moment... I really thought we had had a breakthrough. And it was all courtesy... Anderson Cooper?

Senator, I’m sorry… for the last four days, I have been seeing dead bodies here in the streets of Mississippi and to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other — I have to tell you, there are people here who are very upset and angry, and when they hear politicians thanking one another, it just, you know, it cuts them the wrong way right now, because there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman has been laying in the street for 48 hours, and there is not enough facilities to get her up. Do you understand that anger?
Ohhh, that was so the best. We had to endure days of "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" and the rest of the usual political fellatio. While people were starving and dying on my TV. And finally, someone called bullshit. It was brilliant.

Of course it didn't last... even though the federal response was clearly clueless, they found a way to spin it and place the blame on someone that wasn't Bush or FEMA. Things returned more or less to status quo. Still, a lot of people got pissed off, and the president's approval rating took a tumble. So that was nice for a while. (If only Iraq was televised.)

So anyway... sorry I've been quiet and not responding to e-mails. Hopefully soon I can nail down a job and bid farewell... PERMANENTLY.