The LifeMaven

What’s new in my world this week? (A collection of random updates, cool stuff I’ve found, and other random awesomeness.)

Rediscovery! I got the Brett Favre itch!

Rediscovered Madden 09 after a break of about two months now. (That’s a long time for me to go without any football.)

I don’t play online that much, mostly solo franchise games, but if anyone is up for a game my Xbox live gamertag is DCH Spartans 2. Just send a message and we’ll set something up!

And speaking of words with Re- in them…

Red vs. Blue Recreation!

Ah yes, where would Summer be without Red vs. Blue.

For those not familiar with the series, it’s basically a comedy made using the Halo series of video games. The term is called Machinima, and you can learn more about it here and the series here. (Don’t you just love Wikipedia?)

Most of the series probably won’t make much sense if you’re not a regular follower, so I would suggest checking out the earlier seasons first to see if it’s something you like. (Although it obviously changed over the years since it began.)

For those who are familiar, what are you waiting for?! Go watch it!

Corporate life can so ridiculous

(Cube Image above taken from www.cubefigures.com)

DISCLAIMER: This story is told entirely from my point of view, so any decisions or meetings that I was not a part of are not included, obviously. I don’t even know the actual final outcome, but just the thought of what might happen is worth a rant.

I know we all have our own horror stories about corporations doing something incredibly stupid or unreasonable.

This week’s gem comes courtesy of my company, so of course all names have been changed to protect the guilty.

I work in desktop support and one of our functions is to disconnect and reconnect and computers that need to be moved as people are moved from one cubicle to another.

Currently, we’re in a big project where three floors worth of people have to be moved because the company wants to lease the space.

The issue is that someone complained about not having their computers reconnected early enough and so management wanted to put a deadline on us to have all computers reconnected by 7AM.

WHAT!?

It’s bad enough that we’re short staffed and we have to do these reconnects in the mornings. (My coworkers do, not me because I work a different shift.)

But to push that time even earlier is downright inhuman.

Some folks don’t get overtime so they would have to leave early after starting early. But that would understaff us for the disconnects that take place in the afternoon.

To me, this is another example of poor communication. Whoever is making these decisions or proposing them is not in touch with us grunts on the ground level.

Suffice to say, it’s very aggravating and yet another reason why I want out of the corporate world real quick.

Update: This post from Escape from Cubicle Nation about an overloaded employee is yet another example of corporate insanity.

Questioning my manliness

Kind of.

I’ve mentioned in some of my other posts that I read The Art of Manliness.

And I was wondering if some of their advice is applicable for other cultures?

I mean, a lot of what they say isn’t culture specific. Things like writing a letter to your dad or setting your values.

But some suggestions for father-son activities seem pretty American to me. Playing catch, going to a ball game, fishing, camping, hunting, etc.

I feel like I have a pretty unique view in that I’m more American than I am Chinese, and my dad is the same, but he has a more unique view on the world, than I.

I mean, I’m pretty Americanized and occasionally find myself vaguely interested in these “traditional” American pastimes. My dad on the other hand, not so much.

My question is this: What do other cultures do to create the same sacred bond between father and son? Let me know in the comments!

And that leads to: Father’s Day is coming up

Have any special plans for that father figure in your life?

So what’s new in all of your worlds’? Anything interesting or awesome happen to you? Let me know below.

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