Friday, January 21, 2011

Things

Things that annoy me:

1) A company that's too cheap to buy new sponges for the sink, so your only option is to use your hands or mildewy, 4-year-old sponges.

2) Contagious death-plague viruses. Especially when you give them to your boyfriend, so he gets to spend the evening gray-faced, sweaty, delirious, and crawling between the toilet and his bed.

3) People who forget that the workplace has boundaries. And that jokes about vibrators should probably NOT be directed at the only girl in the office that day.

4) People who can't. Throw. Anything. Out. Ever. So you get stuck sifting through boxes and boxes (and digital files) of old papers that bear no relevance whatsoever to the present.

5) Snow storms that keep threatening to come, then wimping out and spitting like 3 snowflakes on DC.

6) Sales calls. Doing them, not receiving them. They are awful.

Things that make me happy:

1) Being the only one at work and blasting Great Big Sea, the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack and Julie Fowlis to my heart's content.

2) Getting in early so I can leave early, and blogging during my lunch hour.

3) One-year anniversaries (tomorrow!).

4) Shepherd's Pie, green bean casserole, and chocolate chip cookies--all homemade!

5) Bagels and free coffee.

6) The XKCD comic that is taped to my broken laptop screen, ending with a "FUCK. THAT. SHIT." and reminding me that life is more than some people make of it. I wish I could remember the number of it, because it's brilliant.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A quick comment on an article I read this morning...


First of all: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/03/AR2011010302175.html I know it's a lot to read through, but it's worth it if you're into masochism, because especially if you're an American, this article WILL make you hurt. If you've taken ANY courses in international development, this article will make you feel ill. The many layers of misunderstanding are apparent here. First, there's a reason why these changes are called "long term"--and you really can't just plop things into someone else's hands and run away with no oversight. Minimal oversight, maybe? But not this.

Second, water parks?? Dance halls? Has ANYONE working for these people taken a class in cross-cultural communication? Certain social codes and norms are present in Islamic countries, and while you may be trying to "democratize" the country, at least respect the existing value systems. To quote, '"We don't allow dancing and singing outside," said Hassan Alizerjawee, a Sadr City elder who lives across the street from the proposed site.' Why didn't we invest those $250,000 in taxpayer dollars in measures that preserved what was already there (whatever was left to save) or at least spending another $50,000 to make sure militias didn't bomb the shit out of everything?

Another quote: ""We did run a danger of looking like Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned." from Lt. Col. Yates, whose men worked on the water park in Baghdad.

Ugh....