Great flick! And ... hang out for the extra time past the impressively long list of credits. It's worth it if your are a Marvel fan in any way, shape, or form. (Oh, and of COURSE Stan Lee is in the movie. Keep your eyes open.)
I think this is the best role I've seen Robert Downey Junior in, in a very long time. I think he had a lot of fun with it. (Though I really liked him in Charlie Bartlett.) And, boy was he buff!
Jeff Bridges did really well with his role, particularly towards the end of the movie. If I told you any more, I'd have to issue a spoiler alert.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Friday, May 02, 2008
No first day .... just yet
Apparently, yesterday's post was premature.
I had my meeting with the CIO today. Everything went pretty well. We will probably restart the project with a formal requirements period, followed by a market study of available technologies (with the help of an experienced consulting group).
However, there are a few things that the CIO wants me to do in relation to the project in the interim. Also, when I requested that the renewed project be led by someone else, he listened to and agreed with my reasoning. But then, he said that he might not have anyone else appropriate to lead the project so that I may still be his best choice.
Fabulous. (grrrrr.....) I spent nine months leading a project that was completely screwed from the beginning by poor requirements and a 'team' that did not feel accountable for the success of the project. Virtually everything that 'we' accomplished was done by me or by much cajoling by me. The people who were slated to support the product after deployment couldn't be bothered to get involved with resolving any issues before deployment. They expected to be handed a perfectly configured and functioning product, that they had no hand in configuring. So, um, how did they think they would know how to troubleshoot any issues? ... Right.
My CIO assured me that everyone would be held accountable this time around and that I wouldn't be left holding the bag on my own.
Sorry, I'm not buying it. I've worked pretty closely with this cast of characters over the last year. I don't see how he expects tigers to change their stripes.
My unit team lead was in the meeting with the CIO this morning. She tried to give me her Pollyanna viewpoint afterwards. She thinks that after I take care of these final little tasks, that I'll at least have a few months to regroup and take care of some other things before the project renews. Also, she was very optimistic about the CIO's perception that he would make it clear to everyone that they would be held accountable for the success of the project. Sadly, she's very Pollyanna-like over a lot of crap that just ain't so.
Hopefully, the several month respite will eventually occur. During that period of time, I plan to keep my eyes on the internal job board. I work in a HUGE organization. There are a lot of IT-related jobs that are not actually in IT. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a way out before I get the albatross hung back around my neck.
I had my meeting with the CIO today. Everything went pretty well. We will probably restart the project with a formal requirements period, followed by a market study of available technologies (with the help of an experienced consulting group).
However, there are a few things that the CIO wants me to do in relation to the project in the interim. Also, when I requested that the renewed project be led by someone else, he listened to and agreed with my reasoning. But then, he said that he might not have anyone else appropriate to lead the project so that I may still be his best choice.
Fabulous. (grrrrr.....) I spent nine months leading a project that was completely screwed from the beginning by poor requirements and a 'team' that did not feel accountable for the success of the project. Virtually everything that 'we' accomplished was done by me or by much cajoling by me. The people who were slated to support the product after deployment couldn't be bothered to get involved with resolving any issues before deployment. They expected to be handed a perfectly configured and functioning product, that they had no hand in configuring. So, um, how did they think they would know how to troubleshoot any issues? ... Right.
My CIO assured me that everyone would be held accountable this time around and that I wouldn't be left holding the bag on my own.
Sorry, I'm not buying it. I've worked pretty closely with this cast of characters over the last year. I don't see how he expects tigers to change their stripes.
My unit team lead was in the meeting with the CIO this morning. She tried to give me her Pollyanna viewpoint afterwards. She thinks that after I take care of these final little tasks, that I'll at least have a few months to regroup and take care of some other things before the project renews. Also, she was very optimistic about the CIO's perception that he would make it clear to everyone that they would be held accountable for the success of the project. Sadly, she's very Pollyanna-like over a lot of crap that just ain't so.
Hopefully, the several month respite will eventually occur. During that period of time, I plan to keep my eyes on the internal job board. I work in a HUGE organization. There are a lot of IT-related jobs that are not actually in IT. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a way out before I get the albatross hung back around my neck.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The first day of the rest of my career
So, I have a big meeting with our CIO tomorrow to give him a status and recommendations on 'the project that flushed itself'. He kind of knows it's coming, so it won't be a complete shocker. I'm sure he'll say all the right things and give us our marching orders for reinitiating the project under better conditions once FY09 rolls in.
Everyone has done a great job of convincing me that this fiasco was not my fault. I'm also starting to realize that I'll be getting about 50% of my time back from this project to do all sorts of tasks that I had previously relegated to the back burner, things that really are important but I've had to ignore.
We'll probably have to do a post mortem on the project. We'll talk about 'lessons learned' and recommendations going forward.
I took today off to do some stuff with my son and to start regrouping my brain. I'm also taking off tomorrow afternoon. Come Monday, maybe I'll remember what my job was supposed to be before I spent nine months drowning in the project from Hell.
Everyone has done a great job of convincing me that this fiasco was not my fault. I'm also starting to realize that I'll be getting about 50% of my time back from this project to do all sorts of tasks that I had previously relegated to the back burner, things that really are important but I've had to ignore.
We'll probably have to do a post mortem on the project. We'll talk about 'lessons learned' and recommendations going forward.
I took today off to do some stuff with my son and to start regrouping my brain. I'm also taking off tomorrow afternoon. Come Monday, maybe I'll remember what my job was supposed to be before I spent nine months drowning in the project from Hell.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Minor school rant
OK. I do not expect anyone to comment on this, I just feel the need to vent a little.
I am taking a class this semester: "Legal Issues in Business and Management". I am actually interested in the content. (I like rules, after all.) Unfortunately, since there are over twenty of us signed up for the online course, the instructor decided that we needed to do our discussions in groups that she assigned. We have five, two week, modules throughout the term. For each module, each group is expected to come to a consensus and post to a main forum and comment, as a group, on another group's posting. Modules begin on a Saturday and end 14 days later on a Friday.
Thus far, my group has posted its consensus first, by the mid-point of the module. We felt that it was only fair, in order to give other groups ample opportunity to comment on our postings. However, the other groups feel that it is acceptable to post their stuff on Wednesday (or even Thursday), thus giving the other groups about 48 hours to come to a consensus and respond.
All groups can see the other groups' discussions. My group is the busiest, most prolific discussion board. We also utilize the chat facility to schedule a time to come to a consensus on our posts.
This evening, our intrepid instructor posted a general note saying how well we were ALL doing. Um???? EXCUSE ME!!! One group is working its butt off while the others are doing the minimum. How the heck is that a good job?
GRRRR....
It really doesn't take much to succeed in this world, does it?
I am taking a class this semester: "Legal Issues in Business and Management". I am actually interested in the content. (I like rules, after all.) Unfortunately, since there are over twenty of us signed up for the online course, the instructor decided that we needed to do our discussions in groups that she assigned. We have five, two week, modules throughout the term. For each module, each group is expected to come to a consensus and post to a main forum and comment, as a group, on another group's posting. Modules begin on a Saturday and end 14 days later on a Friday.
Thus far, my group has posted its consensus first, by the mid-point of the module. We felt that it was only fair, in order to give other groups ample opportunity to comment on our postings. However, the other groups feel that it is acceptable to post their stuff on Wednesday (or even Thursday), thus giving the other groups about 48 hours to come to a consensus and respond.
All groups can see the other groups' discussions. My group is the busiest, most prolific discussion board. We also utilize the chat facility to schedule a time to come to a consensus on our posts.
This evening, our intrepid instructor posted a general note saying how well we were ALL doing. Um???? EXCUSE ME!!! One group is working its butt off while the others are doing the minimum. How the heck is that a good job?
GRRRR....
It really doesn't take much to succeed in this world, does it?
Monday, April 28, 2008
Religious persecution verses child protection
I don't know that I can bring myself to say much about the FDLS issue in Texas. If fully grown adult women have such a low opinion of themselves that they are willing to commit themselves to second-class citizenhood in a polygamous marriage, so be it.
Why do we NEVER hear of polygamist situations that involve multiple men married to one woman? Simply put: Polygamy is mostly about power. Traditionally women have had less power then men (at least on the surface). Therefore, historically, polygamy is a situation where one man has multiple wives. Some women would say that having 'sisters in marriage' is a good thing, in that it gives them a rest from the lout they were all foolish enough to commit to.
What I can say something about the treatment of children in the FDLS. I typically stand by parents' rights to raise their children as they see fit, so long as they do not physically or mentally abuse their children. Some would say that taking the FDLS kids into Texas state custody interfered with parent rights. Let's think on that as we read on.
It was announced today that 31 out of 53 teenaged FDLS girls were either mothers already or pregnant at the time they were taken into custody. The definition of 'teenaged girls' here is 14 to 17 years old. Encouraging, or possibly forcing/coercing, 14 to 17 year old girls into 'marriage' and parenthood is right up there with physical and psychological abuse in my book. Even by Texas standards, this is intolerable.
WTF?!?
Why do we NEVER hear of polygamist situations that involve multiple men married to one woman? Simply put: Polygamy is mostly about power. Traditionally women have had less power then men (at least on the surface). Therefore, historically, polygamy is a situation where one man has multiple wives. Some women would say that having 'sisters in marriage' is a good thing, in that it gives them a rest from the lout they were all foolish enough to commit to.
What I can say something about the treatment of children in the FDLS. I typically stand by parents' rights to raise their children as they see fit, so long as they do not physically or mentally abuse their children. Some would say that taking the FDLS kids into Texas state custody interfered with parent rights. Let's think on that as we read on.
It was announced today that 31 out of 53 teenaged FDLS girls were either mothers already or pregnant at the time they were taken into custody. The definition of 'teenaged girls' here is 14 to 17 years old. Encouraging, or possibly forcing/coercing, 14 to 17 year old girls into 'marriage' and parenthood is right up there with physical and psychological abuse in my book. Even by Texas standards, this is intolerable.
WTF?!?
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