Category: Uncategorized

I just watched the first episode of The Office. It was funny…and extremely painful to watch. Having been to the UK, there are offices that work that way.
It was so…realistic that you had to cringe and recoil at the complete atrocity of this show.
Brilliant. Spot on Brilliant.

Today has not been a good day in our house.
Samantha flamed someone from the Canadian Revenue Agency who called us looking for money that they already have in their possession…to the tune of $45K (CDN). They have had our money tied up for a year. And there is little chance that we will see it any time soon.
Now, Samantha is the first to admit that some of the blame is with her. However, the freakin’ CRA can’t communicate internally. Seems that we paid the money to the Canadian Taxes Division and the Non-Residents Division is the one that keeps saying we owe money.
And who do non-residents have recourse to? No one.
An MP? Which one? We last resided in David Anderson’s riding, but haven’t been resident for 6 years.
A Minister of the Crown? David Anderson is Minister of Environment. Ralph Goodale, Minister of Finance??
And I doubt that the CRA has an ombudsman. A representative of the people at a tax agency? Right….
YEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGH!
So, I have been doing an inventory of my computer equipment and other hoohas to see what I can sell. We need the money. That’s why there are Google AdSense ads all over my sites now. That’s why I am evaluating every way we can to reduce expenses, or raise revenue.
I am so bummed. This is a shitty day all-around, and both Samantha and I have been wandering through the house with black clouds over our heads. We both have tension headaches…and I am sitting here with three fingers of Scotch — those who know me realize that I have about 4 drinks a year, so this is a big deal.
Any input, feedback or ideas would be appreciated. This isn’t meant to be a sob story, just a personal note about what’s happening here at the The Embassy.

This is frightening. [here]
Apparently Blogging counts as a campaign contribution?

Interesting…someone from the FEC actually took the time to read this post. I am honoured!

Looks like some private capital wants to buy the NHL…all of it…all of the franchises… [here]
Will probably bring about some much needed rationalization in the league.

Good news: Blogging is good for the brain! [here]
Original blog posting here.
Of course, the way I have been feeling lately…I think I have hit the wall.

Standblog tells Microsoft the same thing that I did: stick to the standards. [here]

Interesting screenshot from Brazil….

Ummmm…it’s your dog food…
Courtesy of C|Net.

My sources tell me that this is a result of a third-party provider feeding content into this page. However, it is the optics (a phrase popular in BC politics) of the situation that makes this looks not so good for MSN.

Hmmm…Geek News has a very “open kimono” response to Google on the AutoLink function, raising all of the issues we have had on the back of our minds. [here]
The one about compensation for clicks that drive traffic to Google sites is a good one; like AdSense in reverse.
Maybe it’s time for a few key sites to block the GoogleBot. I wonder what would happen if large sites that are already well-known just stopped allowing Google to index them….
Just a thought…

Hank Stringer from On Talent has a great post about the growing scarcity of talent, and the importance of rejected job offers. [here]
I have stated before that this seems like a no-brainer for a company. If you are going after true talent, and they are rejecting you, do you have a rejection debrief that you put these candidates through? What are they telling you is the main reason they went with Company Y instead of your firm?
Salary? Benefits? Work Environment? Technology?
The industry I work in is mature and, I would say, mainstream. I miss the days when I worked with a company that was so far out in front that the customers had to be dragged along; now the customers are the ones doing the dragging.
I can see some waves out there, but having ridden (been ridden by?) one bubble, I am not leaping into another. There are a lot of cool Internet and tech things out there, but I need the passion.
Hank, I think that the key to those offer rejects may be passion. Will these new hires be a cog; or are they being brought on to lead a company into uncharted territory.
I hate maps.

Gotta love these: genaholincorporated.com
Thankfully the b2evo spam filters crush their comment and trackback spam.
However, had to add them to the filter script I run every minute to clean out extraneous hits. Luckily the bots have a unique browser string!
May your bots melt in the 10th Level of Hell.