Life Is Not Purgatory

Home StretchSo I’m back into Monday night gaming and I just slipped right back into it… Ah! It’s good to be back. Although I think I may need to rent space in either a guestroom or a friend’s sofa for my trips back to the city if this is going to be a regular occurrence.

Next Tuesday, I’m going to see Serenity and would like to see it with a bunch of my friends although I realize I’m going several days after the release date and I’ll likely be among the last of us to see it.

Changing Things Around
Yesterday afternoon I delivered my letter of resignation from my management position here at the resort and accepted a transfer from Rooms Division to Food & Beverage. The resignation was accepted and will be announced tomorrow afternoon.

A few of you were my sounding boards for this change when I came up to Edmonton on short notice last weekend and I appreciate all the feedback I received; especially from Anne and a masterful tarot reading she did for me.

Why?
Professional Reasons - I’ve been doing pretty much the same thing for almost seven years, and even though the scenery may have changed, it’s still /the same/ job. Although I have F&B Outlets to dabble in, I still am not getting the F&B experience I want and daresay need if I want to advance into an AGM or General Manager position.

Personal Reasons – As almost anybody who knows me can attest, most of my personal energy is recharged when I am engage in social activities with my friends, and most of them are almost four hours away. Being management here means I pretty much have to keep everyone at arm’s length, complicated by the fact that the only social place in town is a in the resort – and it’s almost impossible to let your hair down and relax when you are at work, even if you are not /working/. Three days off in a row will allow me to commute to Edmonton to participate in some weekly gaming, and otherwise spend time with my friends to recharge my emotional batteries, that have been all-but depleted over the course of this past year.

There is no real financial distinction between the positions, and I still retain the confidence of my bosses, who know that I’ll be there in case of crisis and rise to the occasion if needed, I just won’t feel obligated by my position to martyr myself…

Look Twins!

Is it just me or does US Supreme Court Nominee John Robers look an awful lot like our Prime Minister, only about 15-years younger?

Regardless it appears that Mr. Roberts is likley to be the next Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, where he will likely sit for 20 - 30 years; guiding the Judicial arm of the US government in a direction that only likely he knows... his judical record is just too short to make any substantive judgements on how he will act once the new robes go on.

The Roberts Court will likely be quite conservative as Roberts has repeatedly expressed his opinion that while he may disagree with or think a piece of legislation is idiotic or ill-advised, he will not strike it down unless it is illegal: either against the constitution, or contrary to other laws. I can't say I disagree with that opinion... and though my own preference is for a progressive judiciary, like in Canada - I think perhaps Roberts may be the best the US can hope for under George W. Bush.

Unless he turns out to be a Palpatine...

Premptive Nuclear Option?!?!
I have to wonder if the Executive branch of the US Government has lost it's mind, or simply lost touch with reality. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have released a draft report awaiting the signature of Donald Rumsfeld that would ultimately loosen the restrictions on the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield and would allow for pre-emptive nuclear attacks on terrorist groups or nations that posess weapons of mass destruction, or to secure a rapid end to a war on US terms, or "to ensure success of U.S and multinational operations."

This opens the door for:
- A nuclear attack upon the tunnel systems where Osama bin Laden is beleived to be hiding.
- Turning North Korea and/or Iran into a radioactive parking lot.

Not good... not good at all.

One of Those Weeks

I feel like my brains are going to pour out my ears… it’s just been one of those weeks I guess. I’m really, really short staffed (to the point where I am taking three desk shifts this week) and neither myself nor my boss have more than a single day of in the next two weeks.

You see, September is a hellish month – busy but we have just lost all our summer staff that have left for various parts to go back to school. I’m thinking my next trip up to Edmonton will be during the week as I think after my last trip and the little portal to hell that opened in my absence – weekend trips are out at least until Winter. I want to go to the Waterpark again I really enjoyed Shani’s Birthday there and want to do it again… although this time I’ll be more careful with my glasses (which thankfully were4 found only though Leaha’s efforts – whom I owe a beer still).

With a little bit of luck I’ll be off Tuesday… and then I can catch up on the Purgatory rules debate for P3…

Billion Dollar Boondoggle (Part 2 of ?)
After Katrina hit I saw a picture that really infuriated me… an aerial photograph of a school bus yard underwater in New Orleans with at least a hundred parked school buses just sitting there unused, and underwater. How many more thousands of people could have been evacuated if the government had pressed that bus fleet into service? How many more would have lived?

It is important to understand that a major stumbling block in these sorts of situations is one of jurisdiction. In Canada, we have a very powerful federal government and both public security and emergency preparedness are federal responsibilities, however, in the United States that authority is divested on under funded local and state agencies… Do the Mayor and Governor deserve a share of responsibility – Absolutely! As much as going to land upon them – Definitely Not.

Volunteers firefighters from all over the US were turned away on the orders of the FEMA chief, Homeland Security workers were not diverted from other duties until almost 12 hours after Katrina had left New Orleans in ruins, and even then were given days to arrive at the affected areas… the response by FEMA to this disaster will be used a Case Study on institutional chaos in the future – and hopefully someone will learn from it.

A disaster response is always barely controlled chaos on almost every area for the relief and recovery effort, and while the need to coordinate is vital, there is always a shortage of skilled manpower – you can always make do with more people, but the magnitude to stress increases exponentially with less people than you need.

My time at the Red Cross was short, but one of the most important things I learned was never turn down help: even if they are incompetent in one arena – they can turn out to be invaluable in another.

Billion Dollar Boondoggle (Part 1 of ?)
Canadians used this descriptor for the HRDC fiasco a few years back… but as wasteful and disgraceful as that bureaucratic monstrosity was is nothing compared to the utter ineptitude and gross negligence displayed by the US Department of Homeland Security and more specifically the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the preparation for and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I’ll start this off by saying this is not intended to diminish in any way the Herculean efforts by the thousands of NGO aid workers, police officers, soldiers, firemen, etc who are working tirelessly to evacuate the stranded, save the injured and recover the thousands of dead… this is aimed squarely at the bureaucrats responsible for the operation of FEMA and the politicians whom possess oversight duties over them.

While FEMA is not solely to blame for this catastrophic misjudgment it is also important to remember that Hurricane Katrina was only a Category 4 tropical cyclone and therefore a full order of magnitude weaker than what could have flattened the all but destroyed New Orleans… how much worse could it have been?

Then Louisiana National Guard took days to arrive, bringing in fresh water and food for the impoverished masses stranded in either the New Orleans Convention Center or the Louisiana Superdome… days longer than the rescue operations from the worlds only superpower should have taken, especially for a disaster that was not only predicted but forecast days in advance! Which begs the question, if this is how the US responds to a massive disaster it obstensibly prepared for… how is it ever going to respond to the next man made cataclysm?

As we sit in our homes and watch as the spectacle unravels before our eyes, the politicians and bureaucrats are already finger pointing at each other, while thousands of corpses either lie floating in the streets, or trapped amongst the ruins of demolished homes.

Its All Over... but the crying!
Deep Sigh...

A little over three months ago, I was very close to simply walking away from Purgatory. A lackluster set of turn results from me, combined with work stress, climaxed in a showdown outside of Boston Pizza between Anne/Dave and myself over my continued involvement in Purgatory... and I was a little raw.

I'm glad I never walked - otherwise I would have missed the end to a terrific game that I've helped shape over two chronicles.

I'm also glad the Finale coincieded the next day with two birthday parties: Shani and Star. I spent a few hours in WEM at the Waterpark then spent the evening with a potluck dinner and dancing... man did I hurt the next day.