Junk

Today's blog entry is written and delivered from me to you via open source software!

Are you not excited? I am.

My hardware:

A Dell PC that I have taken over from my friend and converted into my very own Linux playground.

I currently have it running Debian Linux with gnome as the window manager.

I am not particularly pleased with the setup as of yet. I am not a big fan of gnome. But I haven't had time to switch over to KDE yet. Fun Stuff...

Anyways. I have not had a lot of time as of late due to my schedule. But I need to go on about a few things that have been bothering me as of late.

Why does everyone feel the need to justify their existence? I don't understand this. Why shouldn't the simple fact that you STILL exist justify it? The feeling of inadequacy seemingly shared by the majority of the human race is, in itself, crap. Our politicians constantly run on at the mouth about how they are better than the next guy. Are they really better? Or just different.

When we move into the corporate world everybody tries to justify their job. Nowhere do I feel this is more prevalent than in the unionized workforce. The union's sole existence is supposed to be about worker's rights and fair treatment for the workforce. This had it's place during the development of our industrial economy. However, in this day of downsizing and strong arming the union (i.e. Northwest Airlines/AMFA strike) into submission, many workers would enjoy better working conditions, more overtime, and an all around better working environment if they were working according to state law and not their collective bargaining agreement. My employer has a stipulation in our employees contract that there will be no double time period. However California state law says anything after 12 hours is double time. Our employees do not benefit from this because of their contract. But I digress. The union should be about bettering the working conditions for it's members. In my opinion the union is not doing it's job if it's main focus is justifying the existence or employment of every member. Some people need to be fired. Some people are not a good fit and they need to be let go. But the union's of today typically see it as their "duty.' to protect the trash. They see it as their justification for existence. Because management must have a trap-door directly inside their "open" door. Ridiculous.

Well that is about it - I need to be off to work. Another fun day at the airport coming up!

Happy Holidays!

Can you believe all the controversy that the choice of a holiday greeting can cause. There has been a lot of mention about it this year. Maybe there has always been a lot of mention about it and i just haven't paid any attention. There has been mention that 37 out of the 50 US governors chose to stick with Happy Holidays as their official greeting. I imagine that is an important decision in a politicians life - what greeting to use on your official Christmas Card....but wait...is it a Christmas Card? Holiday Card? Winter Season Card? Does the average American really care? I know if I got a card from my governor I would be happy to just get one. Then I would start wondering how much of my money they wasted in printing an "official" card. I have a pothole in the road to work that just keeps getting bigger - but damn that is a nice card. A little bit ridiculous if you ask me. CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger even took the time to paint his own card.



Aren't we all just as excited as hell that he could find the time to do that...but not the time to solve some more pressing issues? Illegal immigration? Lowering Taxes? Atrracting new business? That friekin' pothole on my way to work! I mean lets work on some stuff that needs to be fixed. Your surrealistic painting of a Christmas (or is it Holiday?) Tree is not one of them.


There is my rant for the day....

Dumb

I just realized that the page I linked to show the delays at SFO...was a dynamic page. Not very smart...but the delays today were averaging about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Honest.

 

And it rained like crazy...I was soaked through.

 

The TSA is at it again. - WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration will introduce new screening procedures Thursday at the nation's commercial airports, allowing passengers to take small scissors and tools on planes but increasing random passenger checks and the thoroughness of pat-down searches.

 

These people are idiots. Plain and simple. Idiots. The single largest attack on American soil was in part caused by our lackadaisical attitude towards airline security. Now the TSA wants us to believe that the threat is gone and that their random security searches are going to catch the "real" terrorists. I think not....blades on an aircraft are going to be dangerous. I am not saying that TSA should eliminate all risk. That is impossible (think Naked Airways....yuck). But shouldn't the obvious risks be dealt with? Or should we allow them to come through our check points, into our airports and in our aircraft? I don't think so.

 

I was thinking earlier today about blogging. I wonder how many of us sit around and type out our thoughts and place them there for the world to see. But how many of them are actually seen? How many people used the term random or rambling in the title of their blogs? Something like "Tom's Rambling Thoughts" or "Susan's Random Musings". Then again I am sure there are a fair number of attempts to be cute out there as well.Like "A Cup of Joe" Some people think ignorance (or even stupidity) is cute. Why is that? Are they themselves attracted to stupidity? Do they seek out their own kind? Is there some need, deep in their psyche, that drives them to seek out and read the thoughts of other stupid people? Sometimes I wonder that. Sometimes I wonder that as I randomly ramble through the musings of my mystical mind. How 'bout that?

More Delays......

More weather and more delays at SFO

 

I love this place!

Ouch...

``I personally spoke before the Local 100 Executive Board when it met'' early yesterday to vote on the walkout ``and told them that I would not approve this strike,'' O'Brien said in a statement posted on the union's Web site. ``I told them that the only road to contract victory for the membership was not by strike but continued negotiation. I continue to believe this.''

 

These were the words of TWU International President Michael O'Brien earlier today.

 

Ouch...even the union (on a national scale) didn't support this strike by the MTA workers.

 

Here is some more background on the story.

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, "Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."  - Martin Luther King Jr.

Back

Well - The interview went great! I feel pretty good about it. I am up against some pretty hefty competition, but we will have to see. I am expecting to hear something back by Friday of this week. Wish me luck!

 

So anyways...it's almost Christmas. I am missing the snow this year. But I can't complain - the bay area is not the place to complain about the weather. We have had some major weather the last couple of days. That has made for some hellish days at the airport.

 

On Sunday the average delay into SFO was about 2 and a half hours. Not very pretty. The unique thing about our operation at SFO is that on days like Saturday (wind, rain, fog, etc...) you can't really predict when the aircraft are going to arrive. They may be showing on the flight tracker and you can have them call you on the radio, but then they are shot off in a holding pattern over Santa Cruz, over the ocean, over Modesto, over anywhere really. Then, before you know it, an aircraft that was supposed to show up at 1100 is now on the ground at 1205. In my current position it makes planning for staffing extremely diffucult. Simply because there is no way to plan. But that is what I find addictive to the job - the unpredictability.  

 

 

Today was an interesting day........

I am little stressed out today. I have a pretty big job interview tomorrow. It is an in-house thing...you know...gunning for the ol' promotion. Ordinarily, I am not real concerned about these things. But today for some reason I feel completely whigged out about it. I mean I guess it means the difference between being able to continue my career here on the west coast or being forced to move east just in the search of advancement. As you can probably tell, non-existent reader, I am not exactly thrilled about the prospect of moving eastward. The city with the highest likely hood of my occupancy is probably New York...not jumping for joy. For the past 5 years I have made my home here in liberal CA. I like liberal CA. Not saying New Yorkers aren't liberal...just a different kind of liberal. Militant perhaps. Maybe just angry. I guess we will see. I will check in tomorrow and spew my guts out on how the interview went.

 

Did anyone read what the new Iranian president has been running off at the mouth about? He calls the Holocaust a myth! The HOLOCAUST!!! Now calling the Easter Bunny a myth???...well ok, we can agree to disagree...but the freikin' HOLOCAUST??? Surely you jest! This was a single minded, brutal attempt to wipe out the Jewish people. Not to mention anyone else who disagreed with the Reich. I think the international community should take a strong stand against this man. He is bad news in the making. Literally and figuratively.

 

Well everyone...signing off...wish me luck tomorrow.

 

Thanks for joining me.

 

-tzSFO

 

 

First Post

I am not going to start this off with grand ideas...or lofty ambitions. I have none for this blog. I just want a place to things down. If they entertain you...awesome. If they don't...maybe this will I am not entirely sure what to do here. Mostly I just want a place to tell myself about the life I am leading. It is not an entirely perfect exsistence (who's is?), but it does me just fine.

Today was my day off - not too bad for me. I did have the time to find some interesting articles:

This is one ....in summary Boeing just won a large order for 787 aircraft from Qantas in Australia. A total of about 115 if the options were exercised.
Now what amazed me about this article was some of the Boeing Execs comments "...We're really appreciative of Qantas decision. They are a challenging customer because they have some unique mission requirements because they are a long way away."...you must be kidding me right? This phrase was uttered by Mike Bair, President of the 787 program. Not a dumb guy by any means...but in that single sentence he proved that "us americans" are living up to our stereotype. They are "a long way away"??? Away from what? C'mon Mike...global business...global...

Here is another ...This one is about the striking Northwest Airlines mechanics represented by The Aircraft Mechanics Franternal Association. They are to vote a proposal by NWA to allow them to come back to work...conditionally. They will be allowed to be recalled in seniority order as positions open up.
In my opinion this is another win for Northwest management. They have successfully lowered the wage scale and eliminated the union that had threatened their viability. Basically this situation was an old west gunfight. The union drew first and missed. They went on strike and Northwest dodged and revealed what they were carrying. After the initial strike I made a comment to a co-worker of mine that NWA would be in bankruptcy in a month. They lasted about 4. In my career AMFA has been the worst union to deal with. They have inept leadership - the leadership of that union should of steered the rank and file guys a different way. They also don't show much maturity when they create websites like this. The men and women on these pages chose to think of their families well being and I am sure made a difficult decision. But to post their names and pictures for the world to see? Maybe a bit much.


Well this is about it for the day. Thanks for coming along.