Some good, some bad

Sorry I have missed a day or so. Jen (SloRider) has already chastised me for being behind with the postings. And if you read her comments, I mis-labled her on several counts. I stand corrected for that and for talking about Gina as a "customer". She started out that way (and still is) but is also an important person in many other ways. Apologies there, as well. Gina reminded me, very aptly, that this blog would reach out to many more people, perhaps, than I usually chat with, and accuracy in depicting others was very important. "Y'all" just keep calling me to task. I'll get it right, sooner or later.

First off is that you should make a trip to www.sfgate.com/columnist/morford/archive and read "The Very Best Thing About Barack." Enlightening, positive, uplifting and hopeful. Even Mark Morford can make the sun shine, sometimes. He's even crankier than I am but I suppose that's why I read his stuff all the time. Highly recommended. Mark is usually pissed off enough about things for most of us, all at one time.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I might have a job. Well, that didn't work out. When I never made it past the interview with the staffing agency, I got really (momentarily) angry. But then something strange happened. Suddenly, from every corner (The NYT, Google, NPR, the local paper) I got overwhelmed by stories about job losses, cutbacks and the exportation of jobs overseas. When I searched the news archive of the NYT for jobs, the first ten articles were about recent job losses. If you ask Google, the list of jobs lost or in the works to be lost goes on for pages. Our local computer manufacturing giant, Dell, has just announced it will cut something like 8,000 jobs in the next few months (they are busy flying back and forth to China). So, while I was busy being miffed that I'd been rejected for a simple job, thousands and thousands of other people are being laid off daily, and probably just as many are getting rejection notices as I did. I'm not special and I'm sure as hell not alone. Of course the other side of that coin is that all the execs and CEO's and board members are still getting bonuses and perks. The oil companies just reported more in quarterly profits than God has in his savings account, the boys at Dell get to keep their $4M private jet and nobody on Wall Street seems to be going hungry. What a mess. What a shame. What a disgrace.

Out of the blue, I heard yesterday from my dear old friend, Tom Wilson. It's been more than a decade since we talked. He's still working hard on residential energy conservation, I'm still haranguing about it. In this case, it's very good to have the past catch up with you. Thanks, Tom. Nice house you bought. Wait???YOU bought a house? Wow.

Tom and Mark Morford would like each other. I like both of them.

Life goes on in Texas.

As it turns out, I didn't make the cut because someone forgot to list being bi-lingual, English/Spanish, as a requirement, on the job posting. I got to thinking and wondering about how many others didn't get hired for more heinous reasons: they were the wrong sex, color, nationality or age. I suppose I got off easy. So I'm not so angry anymore.