SWACK! (Sealed With A CrotchKick)

Insider trading, anyone? Anyone? Bueller?:
“Since Racicot left the Montana governor’s office,” Corr writes, “he has been on the Burlington Northern Board of Directors where he receives $60,000 annually for those duties. He has also been paid an unknown amount for lobbying by the corporation.” According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Corr writes: “On August 2, 2005, Marc Racicot bought 10,750 shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe stock. The price was $30.00 a share, $322,500 his total cost. Later that day Racicot sold the same 10,750 shares for $594,797 at $55.33 a share. Which means his total profit for this little quickie was $272,297. Certainly that is nice work for a day or less if you can get it.”
An excellent article on how the Montana governor is taking on BNSF with both barrels over its history of creating toxic waste dumps and poisoning the environment. It's also an indictment of the "robber baron" mentality that scholars would have us believe died out decades ago. Maybe it did. Maybe I'm a cynic. Maybe I'm misconstruing "robber baron" with "opportunistic greedbot oil company".

Speaking of oil and the president (weren't we?) I sure hope this quote from Da Man himself is accurate:
"But then he got ahold of himself. "You just got to recognize there are limits to how much corn can be used for ethanol," he said, standing in front of a bucolic mural. "After all, we got to eat some."

As hard as it is for me to believe that this idiot still has a chance to walk free I am nevertheless continually dumbfounded by his complete lack of a grasp on ethics:
"[Enron CEO Kenneth]Lay obtained more than $70 million in loans from Enron throughout 2001 and repaid most with company stock, even as he encouraged employees to buy more shares...
...However, Lay did tell workers less than three months before Enron filed for bankruptcy protection that he had bought stock when, in fact, he had sold more shares than he bought."

So, have any of you ever felt unwanted, ignored, left out to freeze in the freezing cold where it is frozen? Welcome to my world. Though I am still Lab manager in title, I am no longer being consulted on any doings concerning the lab. I spend my days running tests (which is not a bad thing as I derive much joy from this) and waiting for the next decision to be made without my input. Today, my boss walked right past me without even ackowledging me to tell my lab tech that some guys would be coming in to fix the natural gas line to our new oven and what did he think about it. I get my revenge by saving my lunch break for the last hour of the day. And making sure that all tests are finished or taken as far as they can be and still be on time. He looks for weaknesses, I give him none. He attempts to joke with me when we are in front of people, I wait patiently for him to finish and ask if there's anything else he needs. I smile not, I am Le Homme Seriouxe et Professionale. I give my two week notice tomorrow by email at 4:55 PM. Oh yeah. I got a phone call at work today from the former owner of a lab we bought. He gave my name to a competitor that is looking for a Lab Manager. I had to inform him that I was moving. Then, he mentioned a huge month long asphalt job in August and did I think I could take a break from my company and come back up to help him out? 15 minutes later I got a call from the competitor...the owner no less. He didn't even offer an interview. He offered, instead, $50,000 a year, low stress, clerical and client massaging only. In Tacoma. I repeated my basic problem with this to him and got "well, if you change your mind in the next month, just call me. Any time. If I'm not in, tell them who you are and they'll give you my private number". 1 and 1/2 months ago I would have jumped at this. Snapped at it. No question. Not now, unfortunately. But it does tell me that very experienced lab personnel are at an all-time premium. And there's the plain fact: no one but a masochist stays within the lab environment for as long as I have. Lab techs are looked at as performing monkeys. But when one of us sticks it out we become very, very valuable. So, I don't take the offer, but I walk away with a very flattering image of myself. Cool. Nice to know that some people value my abilities. Not my boss, but some people. An hour later, I was asked very seriously by a fellow employee from another office up here what my asking price is to keep me from moving. I couldn't even answer him without laughing. I had to tell him it's not about the money. It's about peace of mind and feeling vital and living somewhere that the arts thrives. And being able to stumble home from the Arts without getting a ticket. I'll take my souvenier with me on may 13th. But when another office is actively seeking to deplete mine of talent it's time for me to go far, far away. My boss may suck, but the bloodletting inter-rivalry warfare that goes on up here is far worse. Plus, my office is only still open for as long as a decent-sized competitor doesn't come chomping along. Sad. The office is run by a man with Small Man's Syndrome and a completely egonormous fear of failure. And his so-called compatriots are just waiting for him to knuckle under. I won't be here for that.
I'll be drinking newcastles at Livingstone's and making a fool of myself at Open Mic.