To The Pictures
Let's see, a little recap. The rumors seem confirmed that we will have a 20% reduction in IT staff by the end of the year. The question the people I work with have is the function of our group being moved to a new location on the east coast to a similar group in the headquarters of a company we recently purchased? It's a much smaller company and what little contact we've had with their people doesn't give us confidence in their abilities, but that doesn't matter when they're shuffling things around. That's where they moved our security section. You have no idea how long it takes these days for a new hire to get an ID and password. But then, of course, it I were you, I wouldn't care. I'm not sure I care myself. (Have another shot of Bourbon, kid.)
The big picture is about money and bay area people cost a lot. If they decide to move what we do to the east coast, we're out of a job. We also learned that our company headquarters, not located here in Oakland, has sent out an RFP (Request For Proposal) to a number of companies in an attempt to out source all of our help desk, network and desktop support functions. That doesn't affect us, but it may be indicative of what's going on. They've done this before, but balked when they saw the money it would cost.
Hard to say what will happen, but it has been suggested to us that we have our resumes in order. Hi, ho. Everything happens at once, doesn't it? Put more money in the bank while you can, think of people you still know out there who might need a writer, photographer, web designer, jack of all trades who is as old as the hills and shows up to work sober. The echo of laughter can be heard riffling through the halls. But so what? These things happen, if and when they happen, for good reason. Means it's time to move on. New adventures, new horizons, over the hill or not.
The first Nikon F5 body went back to Nikon today for repair. I was suddenly getting end of roll messages when I'd only shot fifteen or twenty shots on a thirty six exposure roll. The developed film showed it had been skipping frames. Two or three properly exposed images, then two or three blank frames, then two or three more good images again. Nikon has a west coast repair facility and I Fed Ex'd the body to them today. I hope I get it back in time for MSM's wedding coming up weekend after next. Probably use the old backup N90s and the new (old) F3. Did I mention the second F5 body is having the same problem? Mumble. (Poor, baby. Having problems with his expensive toys. Shed a tear. Doesn't mean a shit, does it? Nope. No complaints. Life is an adventure. Enjoy it.)
Anything good happening around here? Well, I bought a monthly bus ticket that I started using  yesterday. Walk into work in the mornings, take a bus back to the bottom of the hill below the apartment. Not the same thing as walking both ways, but better than driving. The walk up the hill gets the calves aching, if I make a point to step out and pump, and the mile and a half walk into work breaks a sweat. (Nothing rancid, mind you, but I think it's doing something good. It's called delusional behavior, but what the hell? Delusional behavior feels a lot better than any reality I know about.) All of this exotic effort seems to keep my energy up and encourages my maddeningly slow weight loss. Although I'm not eating all that much, my metabolism seems to have compensated by slowing down to a crawl and gives up ground in ounces. Just as long as it's down, I guess. Mumble.
The database project I've been wrestling with seems to be working. Sort of. In the future, God wants me to avoid this crap.
I see Polly and BF signed the guest book from Santa Barbara. She's packing a new Nikon. I'm looking forward to the pictures.
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