Guilty Internet Pleasure

I confess, I have something of an Internet guilty pleasure:  I torment people who post comment anonymously.  

Evidence HERE.

I find few thing more disingenuous and cowardly than having all these radical positions ("all insurance is a Ponzi...") and then, well, not actually wanting to be publicly associated with them.

Yes, you can knock me all you want for my beliefs and that's okay.  I'll survive.  But you know what?  When you encounter me you never have to worry about what my beliefs actually are; nor do you have to wonder if I have the courage of my convictions, because I do.  These things are not among my sorted character flaws.

Why do people post things anonymously on the Internet?  Is it because they are "closet ______" (insert racist swine, right wing extremists, left-wing extremists, born again Christian, Amway Agent, etc.) and they just don't want anyone else to know?  You know, kind of like being "in the closet".  Hey, that's an ironic analogy, especially given that most anonymous Internet commentators in NEPA are on the right-wing (most, but not all...).  Anyway, it's not due to a lack of mechanisms to post under your own name, as virtually every forum I am aware of allows you to create an account in something like 30 seconds so that you can use your own name.

Now can you argue that I merely deflect from issue(s) when I point out that an Internet commentator is posting anonymously?  No.  For me, it's about like challenging a witness in a court of law:  more than fair game, as it gets to the credibility of what is being stated.  For example, you can rightfully question my credibility when it comes to some issues, such as sports, because honestly I don't have much of a clue.  Question my knowledge of, for example, pension & retirement security issues?  Hell no.

In the end, it all comes down to character.  Or a lack of it.

Decisions...decisions...decisions

Pending decisions:

Vehicle
As previously noted here, I will be getting a new vehicle one of these weeks/months.  As it stands, I think I've at least narrowed down what is important to me in the vehicle department:

• Size - Not tiny (hell, I drive a Kia Rio now; to get any smaller I'd need to be driving a golf cart), but not enormous either.  Something in the small SUV department.  I want something that I fit in...where "I" is a 6'3.5", 230 pound human being.  I also want something that can carry at least some "stuff".  
• Reliability - Really important to me.  For example, I really like the Jeep Patriot, and I could potentially buy a new one, but I'm apprehensive about the reliability of just about any American made vehicle. I know, buying new means you get the full manufacturers warranty, but I still have fond memories of my PT Cruiser (another Chrysler product) that literally started to fall apart at 60,000 miles.  
• Fuel Economy - I'm willing to give here a bit in exchange for something larger, realizing that nothing I get will end up having the fuel economy of my Kia Rio.
• Accessories - A few accessories would be nice...key flob (I know, most cars have them now, but my option-less Rio does not, and I miss it), sunroof (would be super-cool), roof/luggage rack (Ms Rivers and I are contemplating the purchase of a canoe, so a roof rack would be very helpful), and AWD are all on the list.

The contenders as of this date?  Well here are the leaders, listed in my current order of thinking:

Toyota RAV4 - I love the size (just right) and the reliability.  I am not necessarily enamored with the styling.

Honda CRV - Love the reliability & the size.  Not wild about the styling.

Subaru Forester - I love the size & reliability.  I worry that the engine will eventually turn to a metal block (see Consumer Reports ratings).

Suzuki Grand Vitara - Great size & I like the styling.  I can't get any solid information on the reliability though.

Others I am considering:  Nissan Rogue & Toyota Highlander.

Cell Phone

I have a cell phone upgrading coming on November 1, and it can't come soon enough.  My current phone, a Palm Pre, suffers from several major flaws, including:

• Falling Apart - It is actually falling apart.  The slide-out keyboard is loose and the keys (especially the 'm' key) stick.  The phone's data connection is very fragile, to the point here I frequently have to take it into and out of airplane mode just to get a connection.
• Lack-O-Support - Sure enough, after I bought the phone in early 2011 HP decided to ditch the Palm cell phone business.  Needless to say, next time around I want something that will not turn into vapor-ware immediately after I buy it.
• Size - The screen is tiny and web-pages don't render well.  Very frustrating.

The contenders to date?  Here are a few, listed in no particular order:

Nokia 920 - I love Windows 8 as an alternative to Android, and unlike RIM/Blackberry, I know that Microsoft will be in business for a long time to come.  The phone seems to have a great screen and terrific form factor.  App support is light at the moment, but I think that will change.  It also comes in red.  Downside?  I have no clue when this will actually go on sale.

Samsung Galaxy 3S - Great size, terrific app support & despite the court loss to Apple, Samsung will be in business for a long time.  Tons of accessories for this and I'm relatively familiar with Android.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - The picture compares the Galaxy (left) to the Note (right).  I love the larger size & the stylus entry (Steve Jobs was wrong...).  Might be too big though.

Motorola Razr Droid - Android + nice form factor.  

What will not be on my list?

• Apple - I am just not a fan. I also use a lot of Google infrastructure (contacts, gmail, calendar, blogger).  I DESPISE iTunes with a passion.  
• RIM/Blackberry - I love my work Blackberry Bold...it's bullet-proof, decent app selection & functions really, really well for both voice and data.  I worry though that RIM will be going the way of the dinosaur in 2013, and I don't want to be back in the same bucket I am in now.

Decisions...decisions...decisions.  Next year there may be residence change...if I am this wrapped up in a car and a phone, imagine how I will be when it comes to housing?

They (Obama and Romney) BOTH stretch the truth & outright lie.

Great opinion piece from FoxNews the other day.

What Americans Know But Romney and Obama Do Not

I am amazed at how blindly supporters of both candidates glaze over outright lies by their camps...

...the President's campaign assertion that Mittens basically killed some poor old lady's husband [He didn't, by the way]

...Mittens "I built this" bull$hit which wildly takes out of context what was actually a pro-business comment by Obama

Relatively bright people fall for this nonsense.  It's as if the collective intelligence of the American people drops by 15 IQ points the closer we get to election day.  Oh, and let's not forget the extremist surrogates on both sides:

The Occupy Movement
The great unwashed on the far left who want you to believe that it is somehow immoral to be successful and tweet against "the man" (using their assembled by Chinese slave-labor iPhones).  Got hypocrisy anyone?  I work in the private sector.  I work in financial services.  I am also damn proud of my employer, as we make far more of a positive difference in the world than a bunch of kids in tents ever will.

The Tea Party
Oh yes, the "we are against borrow-n-spend big government" (now that Bush 2, who paid for two wars on credit, is out of office).  Funny, where were these guys when Bush wasn't counting the cost of the wars in his budget projections?  That's a far worse accounting trick than anything Obama has done.  Again, got hypocrisy anyone?  Oh, and the Tea-Baggers provide safe haven for racist swine.  There, I said it...they do.

Now do I sound disgusted?  Yeah, I do, because I am.  I really, truly want this election to be over with.  Truth be told, I will do just fine no matter who wins.  I am, in fact, better off now than I was four years ago, but that has nothing to do with anyone's efforts other than my own.  I will continue to pay taxes, I will continue to speak out on what I think is right (and what I think is wrong) and I will continue to work hard to live the best possible life I can.  None of this, by the way, will be supported by the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Federal government, some labor union or anyone else other than myself and those close to me.  Sorry Rush, but it does take a village...it's just that the village consists of yourself, your family and your friends...not Obama, Mittens, donkeys or elephants.

It all kind of makes me wish I still had this tee shirt...

Debunking the rationale behind the PA Voter ID law

Short, sweet and to the point.

Argument for the Voter ID law:
You need to show an ID in order to cash a check, so why not to vote as well?
Reality:
There is NO Constitutional right to cash as check.  There is a Constitutional right to vote.  Big difference.


Argument for the Voter ID law:
You need to show an ID in order to receive Welfare benefits, so why not to vote as well?
Reality:
There is NO Constitutional right to receive Welfare benefits.  There is a Constitutional right to vote.  Big difference.


Argument for the Voter ID law:
You need to show an ID in order to board an airplane, so why not to vote as well?
Reality:
There is NO Constitutional right to fly on an airplane.  There is a Constitutional right to vote.  Big difference.

Argument for the Voter ID law:
Showing a photo ID is necessary to protect the integrity of the voting process.
Reality:
Protection is required only when there is a threat.  For example:  if you are swimming in shark-infested waters, you need to protection from sharks.  Fair?  However, if you are swimming in the Susquehanna River, do you need protection from sharks?  Nope.  Requiring shark repellent to swim in a NEPA river is unnecessary because that threat does not exist.  Similarly, according to testimony provided by lawyers from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there is no identified threat to the integrity of the voting process in PA.  They said so, not me.  The Voter ID law is designed to provide protection from a threat that does not actually exist.


Argument for the Voter ID law:
There is evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
Reality:
Number of voter fraud cases prosecuted by former Pennsylvania Attorney General (and now Governor) Tom Corbett:  None.  Zero.  Zilch.  In fact, to the best of my knowledge, the former AG's office did not conduct a single  investigation of of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania.  None.  Zero.  Zilch.  So which is it:  was the former AG (and now governor) derelict in his duty or is it possible that there is really is no wide-spread voter fraud in PA?


Argument for the Voter ID law:
It will be easy for voters to obtain a photo ID with an expiration date if they do not already have one.
Reality:
My mother, Doris Albert, is 77 years old and has not driven in a very long time.  She had a photo ID, but it was expired.  The only reason why she was able to get an updated photo ID is because she has four sons who help her with manage such things.  If she did not have  sons to assist her, it would have been very difficult to her to obtain a photo ID.



So what does this all mean?  Basically this:  the Voter ID law in Pennsylvania is a bad political stunt that, at best, offers protection from an non-existent threat.  It represents the worst of public policy.  It potentially disenfranchises the elderly, regardless of their party affiliation.  Not should it be repealed, but those responsible for encouraging this stunt should be ashamed of themselves for such cynical nonsense.

Statement by Gov. Gary Johnson: Liyba

Compare this to the statement made yesterday by Mittens, which had the substance of a Twinkie...nothing more than a "gotcha" opportunity.  How sad and pathetic.  The bigger issue is this:  why is is that we, who are so politically so dysfunctional at home, somehow think we can tell others overseas how to manage their own affairs?

You can link to Gov. Johnson's statement on-line HERE.

Governor Gary Johnson released the following statement regarding the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya:

It is tragic when Americans serving their country are murdered, and we both mourn their loss and honor their service.

Part of honoring that service is to ask the obvious question: What U.S. interest is being served by putting our people – and our money – in places where U.S. personnel can be killed by extremists over a video? We launched millions of dollars worth of missiles to bring down Gaddafi, and this is what we get. We hail and encourage the outbreak of an Arab Spring in Egypt, send them billions of dollars we can’t afford, — and our embassy is breached and our flag desecrated.

In Afghanistan, we continue to put our troops in harm’s way 10 years after our post-9/11 mission was complete. Why?

The airwaves are filled today with political chest-pounding and calls for decisive action. The most decisive and prudent action we can take today is to stop trying to manage governments and peoples on the other side of the globe who don’t want to be managed, get our people out of impossible situations that have no direct U.S. interest, and immediately stop sending money to regimes who clearly cannot or will not control their own countries.

Protecting America with a strong national defense and a rational foreign policy is our leaders’ most basic responsibility. But let us not confuse national security with senseless intervention where our interests are clearly not being served.

How do we measure success?

If we measure the success of our lives based on most concrete things, then the answer will always come back in a sadly discouraging manner.

Someone always has more money than we do.

Someone always has a nicer car/house/toy.

Someone always is at a higher level/position than you in your work organization.

Someone always has more and/or better hair.

Someone always is in better physical shape/skinnier/more fit.

What I've found though in my relatively short existence, especially over the past few years, is that everyone has a story, a reason why their life (no matter how wonderful it appears from the outside) is somehow incomplete or lacking.  We are all, barring severe mental or physical illness, equally dysfunctional.  The trick, it seems, is to learn to focus on not what you lack, but rather on what you have.  Now if you have a severe mental or physical illness then your life will be far more difficult than most, but you still have to choose how you will live your life.  Illness or not, it's our decisions about how we perceive and live our lives that I think ultimately define us.

Oh, and if there truly is something that prevents you from living a full life, then you simply have two choices:

1.  Change it.
2.  Live around it.

#1 is not easy, but it is possible, requiring that very rare of American characteristics:  patience.

In the end, I truly think the biggest lesson in life is to learn to live in the moment.  Life, it seems, is a lot like driving a car:  be aware of where you are now, only glance in the rear view mirror every once in a while, and have a rough idea as to where you are going.  

Re-examining my Internet footprint

One of the great advantages of working for my employer is that I am given so many opportunities for learning and professional development.  Just a few weeks ago I spent a week in Boston learning about employment law, a topic that some might find dry, but which I readily soaked up (insert sponge metaphor here).  While the class really had nothing to do with technology, we did touch for a moment on how social media impacts employment issues.  That got me thinking.  Actually, virtually anything gets me thinking.  Having nothing to do will get me thinking.  And so I digress.

Anyway, I am making a few changes to my Internet footprint.  These include:

sgalbert.com

• A beefed up and far more serious disclaimer.  I was surprised at how many resources exist out there to help bloggers create a disclaimer.  
• I removed my picture from the blog and edited my profile.
• The Facebook badge is gone.

LinkedIn

• I don't do much on LinkedIn, so I don't foresee any changes needing to be made at the moment.  That might change though.

Facebook

• I've re-configured some of my privacy settings so that, among other things, my employer's name is visible only to my friends.
• I've de-friended several organizations that really didn't truly represent my values.  Some I connected to basically to get alternative points of view, others because I may agree with the sponsoring organization in some manner.  Regardless, unless it is an organization that I can say I completely support, the connection to me is being severed.  Why?  It goes to the old adage:  you are known by the company you keep.

Some may look at this and go "so what?", and that's okay.  The larger point here isn't necessarily about any revelations on my part, but rather it's about a continuous process of learning-evaluation-change, learning-evaluation-change.  In some small way it's part of how I prove to myself that I'm still alive.  If we don't look at ourselves and what we do with something of a critical eye, then I think the tendency is to become something of a stagnant mess.  I don't know about anyone else, but I am going to do my best to avoid that path.

Downtown Boston

A few pictures from my week in Boston.

From the hotel (I stayed at the Hyatt Regency, downtown).

I love how Boston has these old & new buildings sitting right next to each other.

The State Street building, I think.

From Boston Common.

A special note to the anonymous individual who keeps leaving comments...

...on my post about that rag known as the "Stars and Bars":


Dear Sir/Madame,

I very well might debate you as to the "real" causes of the Civil War.  I just have one requirement though:  please comment under your own name.  Why?  Well while I do allow* anonymous comments, I can't say that I actually respect people who write things anonymously on the Internet, with very few exceptions.  How can I respect someone who says "I have this conviction" while at the same time also saying "but I don't want to be identified with this conviction"?  It's a silly contradiction in terms, and I'm being kind by using the word "silly" as a descriptive.

So either continue to comment anonymously and not expect any kind of response from me OR comment under your own name and I might actually respond in kind.  My $10/year, my rules.

Oh and remember...

Available for sale HERE in case you want one for your very own.

Have a Nice Day!

Steve Albert
Scranton, Pennsylvania






(*) This sounds so haughty, namely that I "allow" anonymous comments.  In point of fact, when it comes to run-o-the-mill comments I could care less:

a) who comments

and/or

b) whether the comments are anonymous or not.

Remember, I don't do this to entertain anyone other than myself.  Other than deleting comments that are just thinly disguised spam (for example, I've deleted countless comments from law firms every time I would blog about my own divorce) & blatantly offensive hate speech, I pretty much don't give a rat's posterior what anyone writes.  Just don't expect me to react like Pavlov's dog just because your decided to grace me with your wisdom.

Business 101: Chewing your Pride

I've past the quarter century mark working in the private sector (in evil corporate America), and every once in a while I feel compelled to share some of what I've learned.  So here goes.

Pride:  The art of sucking it up.

Want to work in the private sector?  Want to "climb the ladder" as they say?  That's well and good, but be prepared to have:

a) A thick skin
b) The ability to chew your pride

Point (a) is pretty self-explanatory, although I could go on about that if I so desired.  That, however, may be for another day.  On to point (b).

Yes, I said "chew" your pride.  This is as opposed to swallowing your pride.  Swallowing, you see, is far too easy.  What's more, there are times in the working world when you will feel...

...beaten down
...ill treated*
...unfairly singled out

and even...

...slightly humiliated*

...and that's just the way it goes.  Is it fair?  Well "fair" is a relative term, that's for sure.  What is fair for you may not be fair for me.  Regardless, you will have these feelings every once in a while.  I've learn, as I've noted, not to just swallow your pride in these instances, but rather learn to chew your pride.  Chew as to truly feel the emotions, not just dump them, a-la a swallow.  Get accustomed to the taste of these feelings, because that's the best way to not be overcome by them.  If you simply swallow your pride quickly, you do nothing to steel yourself to the inevitable times when you need to deal with these feelings again.

After you are done chewing your pride, well, dust yourself off and get back into the game.  Fate favors the persistent.



(*) By "ill treated" and "humiliated" I do NOT mean subject to harassment, discrimination or retaliation of any sort.  No one in today's workforce should EVER have to tolerate those kinds of behaviors.  If you feel that you have been subject to harrassment (sexual or other), discrimination (because of your race, religion, etc.), or retaliation (because you pointed out issues in the past) you should always and immediately talk to someone with appropriate authority in your employer's organization.  Examples of where you can go to give voice to these kinds of issues include Human Resources, an ethics hotline, or a more senior manager.