So like I said earlier I was re-reading some of my old posts.

Man I recall in Nov 2007 being very excited to start that new job.  Well 14 months later and I’m thinking I made a very large mistake.

The company is doing well and for the most part the people are great.  My issue is with the CEO/President.  He is truly the most unprofessional, manipulative person I’ve ever worked with and that’s how he treats his people.  He constantly says that what we do is easy and can’t understand why things take to long to build.  I can tell you.  It’s because we don’t have a complete understanding of what needs to be built.  Sure we have functional specs but they having huge holes in them every time (something is always missing or not elaborated on).  He over commits to deadlines without checking with anyone.  He breeds an atmosphere of “cover your ass”.  And how dysfunctional is a company that is ecstatic that the CEO is out of the office?  No one wants him there, we all walk on eggshells.

Sad thing is he thinks he’s this great motivator.  His VPs don’t want to even manage people.  How are you a VP and not able to manage people?  I want that job.

Biggest issue I have with him is that he believes if he can’t understand it, then it has to be wrong.  No!!!  If you don’t understand then we need to make sure you do before saying it’s wrong.  It’s not wrong by default.  How this guy ever made it to this position I do not know.  I could go on for days ranting about him.  So suffice to say I think I made a mistake.

I know I should be lucky to have a job in this economy.  My previous employer has done some layoffs and who knows if I would have been part of those.  I’m really frustrated that I jumped at the first opportunity and didn’t see this coming.  My friends tell me I couldn’t have seen it and not to beat myself up over it, but I can’t help myself in that regard.  I’m also frustrated that I’m not in the financial position to just quit.  I guess not many would be but again I think it’s something I did to myself.

Enough of that, I’m trying to maintain a positive outlook while I look for a new opportunity somewhere else.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll get hit by a bus.

Or I’ll get truly lucky and win the lottery.

You know every now and then I get hit with a wave of fear.  Nothing crippling.  More along the lines of uncertainity and I guess the fear of that.

What would I do if I lost my job?

What would happen if my mom or dad died (lucky enough to still have both)?

What happen to my children and wife if I die?  Or worse yet any one of them got hurt or died?

Perhaps this is normal as a Father and Husband?  It’s not like a dwell on it or am unable to do anything.

 Is this normal?

Posts have become infrequent, I apologize for that.  With our acquisition/merger/whatever you want to call it my time has been limited.  I’m also off on vacation one last time before school starts. 

So take it easy and I’ll check back in a week or so.  Should have plenty of Rants about the Red Sox and work when I return (hopefully less  about Red Sox then work).

OK – it’s the first the time I can run for President, so I am.  Consider me a third-party write-in candidate.  I’m not looking for any donations for my campaign.  I’m looking to see how much impact this media may have on the forth coming election.  To that extend over the course of the coming year you will see further posts outlining my platform.  I don’t consider myself either a Democrat or Republican.  I believe now is the time for third party candidacy.  The advances in technology have allowed more and more people to express themselves through blogs, wikis and YouTube.  These online communities consists of members that cross all political views and I firmly believe most of those users would belong to one or more third party political groups instead of the two we currently have.

I ask that when you are voting consider voting for TheRealMe@onlineme.wordpress.com.  Can I do any worse?  I’m thinking probably not?  Could I do better? Hopefully yes?  You would be voting for someone who, ideally, you agree with after reading my rants and raves.  And if I win you finally get to meet TheRealMe. 

If you want political opinions, just ask them and I’ll give them to you.  Here are some of the hot topics:

Iraq War – need to get out and strengthen our defenses at home and rebuild world confidence in US

Same Sex Marriages – sure, just pay your taxes like everyone else

Death Penalty – got to have it

Abortion – not my preference, but not my choice either

Gun control – tough one – we need something – I refuse to believe the founding fathers ever thought of automatic weapons instead they wanted to make sure we had our hunting rifles.  This one still has me torn though.

Taxes – could always be less, couldn’t they?

Like I said if there is anything you want a specific answer to then just ask.

 Keep watching and Go Sox!!! (nice effort by Gabbard last night)

I noticed that the most popular post on onLine Me was my post on John Lovell.  Curious to know why, I did a quick Google search for “John Lovell” and there it is, the 8th post down.  Pretty cool.  Never thought this blog would make the Google first ten of any search.  I hoped those who visited enjoyed it, really wish you had dropped a comment or two.  Oh well.

Sox vs Blue Jays tonight.  Let’s go Sox!!!

Thoughtful post today on LinkedIn Answers: Seeing Life thru the eyes of a 4 1/2 year old

What I really found most interesting were the responses.  Some cited “no time” while quite a few mentioned “going along to get along” as the reason why as adults we don’t ask Why questions.  I know I’m guilty but quite frankly, at least in my recent work situations, those who ask Why aren’t necessarily thought of as rational but instead as trouble makers.  Why is typically answered with “That’s the directive/decision/strategy”.  That is an acceptable answer but if you expect employees to rally behind something and give it their all then you need to answer their Why questions.  Remember you hired these people, so give them the benefit of the doubt and answer their questions.  I’m guessing as adults we don’t ask Why to often because it may also be seen as a sign of weakness.  You don’t know the Why but others do, what would my boss say if I don’t know Why.

Asking Why is natural.  When we stifle it we lose all around.  We lose innovation and discoveries.  We should all strive to ask at least one Why question a day and try to answer it.  Nothing too mind-blowing.  Think of what your child, nephew/niece, younger sibling. etc… would ask and then come up with an answer.  One of the LinkedIn responses pretty much sums it all up:

A child asks questions and expects that they all have answers. As we grow older, we grow used to the idea that some questions can’t be answered, or that they require such an enormous investment in time and energy that we can’t realistically hope to get (or understand) the answer. Enough of that, and we begin to ask fewer questions. Most people probably retain their curiosity (I think I do), just not the initiative to ask the questions when they realize that the answers aren’t readily available.

This is, of course, a grievous error, because some answers aren’t as difficult to come by as we assume. And by making the poor assumption, we fail to ask, and consequently fail to get an answer that might be helpful/surprising/interesting/etc.

- mclaus

Not 100% sure why, but today I’m in a really good mood.  It might be the weekend is coming and I’m on vacation next week.  Could be the Red Sox blanked the Braves two games in a row while the Yankees lost two in a row.  I’m not really sure. 

But I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Lately I have had several people in my life that consistently do not do what they say they will do.  It may be something trivial or it might be an important project at work.  Either way I’m very black and white on this subject.  If you say you are going to do something, then do it.  Think of it this way you made a promise.  If you promise me that you’ll do something and then do not do it, where does that leave me.  I trusted you to do that item you committed to doing, I didn’t trust you not to do it.  If you could not or did not want to do the task then don’t tell me you’ll do it and then not do it.  It’s a matter of trust folks.  Pretty soon you’ll find that if you continually do not do things that you say you will others will not find you reliable.  At work that is a bad situation to be in.  I believe it’s an even worse case if it happens in your home life.

So what if you can see the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe it’s not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal

- lyrics from “Animal I Have Become” by Three Days Grace

I recently became aware of the music of Three Days Grace and I can’t stop listening.  Anyways that chorus really sticks with me.  Maybe it’s the whole concept of the Real Me, but I do believe we all have a dark side and that some of us let it out and it needs to be controlled.  I mean it’s OK to think crazy, dark, sick thoughts just don’t act on them.  Acting on them makes you crazy, keeping yourself in control makes you “normal”. 

But it does beg the question which one is the real you?