Likes and hates

I'm watching a DVD right now, which has been riveting my attention. At the same time, I had to watch something idly, so I'd like to share my thoughts on things that I like and dislike.

I like quality television with complex plots and characterizations. I love it when people strive for quality and originality. That's why I like "The Dead Zone," "24" and "Veronica Mars." Each one of these shows the earmarks of outstanding writing, plot complexity and attention to detail.

The old "Twilight Zone" series was good too, although i didn't pay as much attention to it.

I'm not such a fan of quality food. Oh, I like to eat, but I'm not one for frequent fine dining. I think that's largely because I tend to be rather frugal, and I'd rather eat for cheap. I am nutrition-conscious though, so I don't go for the ultra-cheap, fattening stuff.

I don't like lazy people. I can't stand it when people feel the need to stroll casually down parking lot lanes, even when they're in the way of vehicular traffic. I also detest it when motorists tie up the mall parking lanes because they just HAVE to wait for someone to back out of a choice parking spot. Never mind that there are plenty of other parking spots available; some of these bastars just HAVE to take a spot that's as close to the mall entrance as possible.

Oh, and I hate it when I come across lazy people at the gym, just kinda lounging around the exercise equipment--in their street clothes, no less! Criminy. If you're going to use the gym equipment, that's fine, but if you're treating the place as a hangout, then get the heck out of the way.

I'm sure that I'll have plenty more to say about these things later. I'm in a ranting kinda mood.

Christmas thoughts

A few thoughts this Yuletide season...

I wish I had more time to watch some of the classic Christmas TV programs this year, or that I could have listened to more of my Christmas music. In part, I blame Netflix and the first season of "24" on DVD. Oh, well.

I wish that I could have spent Christmas with a few more friends this year. Still, it's been a busy Christmas season, with a lot of social activity. I don't think I'll get much rest on Christmas Day itself, but that's okay.

I bought myself a Gerber tool for Christmas. I kinda wish that I had spent $20 more to buy a more upscale model, but that's okay. I'm pleased with what I got, and it has a mini-saw feature that my Leatherman tool doesn't.

Oh, well. Happy Yuletide season to all!

Rubystreak again

I just wanted to say a few more words about this Rubystreak character. I don't want to waste much more time on her, since there's just too much that could be said about her. Suffice to say that she appears to be an exceptionally maladjusted individual. I know there are a lot of jerks out there on the 'net, but they usually act in more trollish ways. Seldom have I seen a non-troll who appears to be an adult, yet acts the way she does.

Sadly, her postings provide abundant fuel for criticism. One could spend days on that matter, but I don't want to waste time with that. Several posters did comment on her angry and jerkish behavior, and frankly, I have to side with them in that regard.

Here's a perfect example. In one thread, she described Donald Trump's chief operating officer (a Mister "Calamari" according to one poster) as an idiot. One poster (her chief opponent, apparently) pointed out that such a judgment is extreme. Calamari had an apparent case of stage fright, and he bumbled his way through his commentary on Jenn Massey. That's hardly a good reason to call him an idiot, though. There are many people who aren't good at public extemporaneous speaking; that doesn't make them idiots. Or does Rubystreak hold that opinion because he doesn't like Jenn? If so, then Rubystreak's judgment is still unfair, since we don't know exactly WHY he dislikes her.

When challenged on that matter, Rubystreak retorted, "Calling someone an idiot is not extreme. Please."

Um, Rubystreak? Nobody said that calling someone an idiot is [em]inherently[/em] extreme. What's extreme is calling Calamari an idiot given what little we saw of him.

In fact, you QUOTED the section wherein your opponent said "And on what grounds is this accusation made, exactly? Because he expressed derision for Jenn? Because he stumbled over his words? Neither of those makes someone an idiot, and so that label is rather extreme." Did you even bother to read the section that you quoted?

(Interestingly enough, Rubystreak had previously criticized someone for allegedly "twisting" her words around. I didn't see that such alleged "twisting" was either accurate or intentional; however, Rubystreak's words are certainly an obvious distortion of the facts.)

As an aside, this is the same individual who went ballistic when someone said that her opinion was "misguided." Um, hello? She doesn't think there's anything extreme about calling someone an "idiot," and yet she raises hell over the word "misguided"? What is wrong with this person?

I have to agree with the posters who said,

"I thought Dex was pretty even-tempered. In every Apprentice thread, Rubystreak's obsession with defending Jen has been heavy-handed, tempermental, and angry."

(Addressed to Rubystreak) "Why should he drop the subject? You don't drop subjects easily yourself, as I know from experience. Just because you and several other posters don't like someone talking about Jenn in an Apprentice thread doesn't mean members are obligated to walk on glass and discuss only what pleases you and your buddies. This is a public message board. Look out your window. See those bipedal creatures? Those are 'other people'."

Like I said, I seldom comment on these people that I come across on the 'net, but this woman is a rather unusual case -- for someone who's not an apparent troll, that is.

Rubystreak

Earlier, I mentioned this "Rubystreak" person on the Straight Dope message boards. Boy, is she a piece of work! (I'm assuming that she's female, based on comments that she's made. I could be wrong, but for now, let's assume that she is.)

Talk about huffy. A few days ago, this person got all upset because another poster said that she was "misguided." Gasp! How shocking!

Calling someone "misguided" is not an insult. Puh-leez.

She seems to have an ongoing feud with that other poster. For example, another participant asked them both to drop a particular topic with regard to TV's "The Apprentice." Whey Rubystreak's opponent continued the discussion, Rubystreak got all riled up. She said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "You were asked to drop this topic, and yet you continue! How dare you!"

Days later, yet another poster chided her for that. (I think his name was "Liberal.") He pointed out that this was a public message board, and that people were free to discuss the topics they wanted unless the moderator objected.

Apparently though, this Rubystreak lass (or chap?) feels that she can bully other people into discussing on the topics that she wants discussed. If she feels that a topic should be dropped, then by gum, people had better drop it. Talk about infantile!

Rubystreak, if you ever read this, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are such a child.

On abrasive leadership

Why did Trump choose Kelly Perdew over Jennifer Massey? Kelly wasn’t a truly charismatic individual; indeed, he has often been described as bland or robotic. I suspect that most viewers would say that last year’s Bill, Troy and Amy – maybe even Nick or Kwame – were much more captivating.

Well, there are several reasons that come to mind. One is that Kelly had a greater number of wins on the show. He also has a much higher degree of real-world business experience.

Jennifer frequently emphasized that she has never been dragged into the boardroom by a PM; however, this seems to be largely because she talks a mean blue streak, and aligns herself with the PM whenever possible. She’s good at arguing and debating, which is probably why Kelly says that she is “good in the boardroom.” (Talk about damning with faint praise!)

I think the bigger problem is that she antagonizes way too many people. Her teammates can seldom stand her, and some of Trump’s top advisors didn’t hesitate to say that she was abrasive or otherwise unpleasant. A leader shouldn’t strive to appease people at all costs, and he/she doesn’t necessarily have to be liked. However, a leader that is strongly disliked is unlikely to be very effective.

I think about this one engineering executive that I once knew. He was known for constantly pointing fingers and tearing into his underlings. Did this help get the job done? Sure, but only at the cost of employee loyalty, efficiency and morale. A happy employee is a well-motivated employee, and creating a hostile work environment is sure to jeopardize long-term productivity.

Jenn M was known for being shrill and shrieky. Now, some would argue that she’s simply being assertive, and that such behavior would be applauded in a man. I strongly disagree. Her actions went way beyond mere assertiveness, and any man that reacted that way would be regarded as a colossal jerk.

In addition, consider the way she implicitly took credit for Ivana’s wheel-o-jeans idea. I know that some would deny that she took credit, but that’s nonsense. Moreover, it’s simply irrelevant. Jenn should have known that this would be perceived as credit-stealing; indeed, even Mr. Trump described it that way. These types of actions may not be outright hostile, but they do promote a hostile environment.

On a tangential note, there is plenty of other evidence that she’s overinflates her contributions. She took partial credit for the Red Velvet ice cream idea, for example. I had problems with that, since he was hardly in the driver’s seat on that idea. As far as I can tell, her contributions to that idea were pretty ordinary. Moreover, it was a lackluster idea, so that really shouldn’t count for much at all.

She also claimed to have risen to the top of her law firm. Hello? Excuse me? Is she a senior partner at that firm? No. Is she a junior partner? No. Does she have any sort of vice-presidential position? No. I don’t think there’s any reasonable sense in which she can claim to be at the top of her firm. Now, if she had claimed to be a top performer, that would be another thing, but she said nothing to support such a claim.

So she came across, as viceroy George put it, as “abrasive as hell.” That is a liability, not a strength. Women like Amy Henry know how to be assertive without being outright abrasive. Ditto for Carolyn Kepcher, although I think she pushes the envelope sometimes. Being assertive without being antagonistic—that’s a skill which Jennifer Massey should learn to master.

More on the Apprentice finale

A lot of people on the 'net have been complaining about the pile-on that Jenn M. endured in the [i]Apprentice[/i] finale. I honestly can't agree with that.

Y'see, Trump had a whole bunch of people--Trump employees and past Apprentice candidates--comment on whether they'd choose Kelly or Jenn, and why. Not surprisingly, the vast majority came out in Kelly's support. Was this unfair to Jenn?

Hardly. Most of them had glowing things to say about Kelly, but they didn't speak negatively about Jenn. In fact, several said that both of them were strong candidates. Okay, so CFO Calamari did openly say that he didn't like Jenn at all (and stumbled over his words in the process), but he was the exception rather than the rule.

Some posters whined, "But by saying that Kelly is all these great things, they're also saying that Jenn isn't!" First of all, maybe they don't think she is. Second, it DOESN'T mean that Jenn doesn't have the qualities that they're extolling. It simply means that they recognize these qualities more abundantly in Kelly, or that they find his qualities to be stronger. It's hardly unfair to Jennifer at all.

"But why have that massive outshowing of support for Kelly?" they asked. "Is is really necessary?" Maybe not, but I doubt that the motive was to humiliate Jenn. Rather, it simply makes for good reality TV, and you can be sure that Mark Burnett wants to milk this show for all it's worth. I'd be shocked if the intent was to put Jenn in her place somehow.

Some cynics say that this was done to somehow justify Trump's choosing of Kelly. They say that Trump's mind was already made up, and that he wanted to justify it to the audience. That theory is just dumb. If he wanted to do that, he could have had the interviewees voice more biting criticisms of Jenn; instead, most of them commended her for her strengths. Trump and Burnett could also have shown more of her negative footage, such as the infamous scene in which she implicitly took credit for Ivana's idea.

So no, this wasn't especially unkind. A few of the comments made were unduly harsh, but the idea of having these people voice their opinions was not.

Apprentice wannabe Jenn M

I watched the excessively long, overdrawn Apprentice finale last night. For a moment there, I was deathly afraid that Trump would actually pick Jenn as his new apprentice. Thankfully, he picked Kelly. Kelly isn't too popular, and a lot of viewers hate his supposed smugness, but he's a darned sight better than Jenn. Heck, I never really sensed the smugness of which they speak, but perhaps I just haven't been paying close enough attention. (I tend to exercise, eat or do computer work while watching TV, since I can't abide the idea of being idle in front of the tube.)

Jenn's worst moment, as far as I'm concerned, was when she stole credit for Ivana's wheel-o-jeans idea. Some woudl dispute that, but I think it's pretty obvious, and her teammates certainly interpreted things that way. Even Trump agreed, based on his voiceovers (which suggested that he was disinclined to hire her).

Still, Jenn has her defenders, and some steadfastly deny that she stole Ivana's idea. (One vocal example is some person named "RubyStreak" on the Straight Dope Message Board.) Personally, I think they're fooling themselves. Sure, Ivana might not have said, "This was my idea! I thought of it!" but her actions clearly implied that -- intentionally or not. Some representative from Levi Strauss asked how the team came up with the wheel idea, and Jenn jumped right in with the answer.

What wrong with that, you might ask? Quite simply, Jenn DIDN'T know how they arrived at that idea. Only the person who came up with the idea (Ivana) could possibly know, unless she shared that information with someone else. Kevin clearly understood that, and so he stated that Jenn stole Ivana's credit away.

What's more, Jenn's teammates repeatedly pointed out that Jenn simply did not grasp the concept of the jeans wheel! How can she claim to know how this idea was arrived at, when she didn't understand the concept at all (not until it was finally created, that is)? Any attempt to explaint hat away is mere sophistry.

And even if that weren't true, she should have still deferred to her teammate. She could have simply said, "The credit for that idea goes to Ivana. Perhaps she can explain." That would not have made her look weak in anyone's eyes, and it would have made her come across as a team player who can give credit where it is due.

I noted that several people on the SDMB made that point, and I must agree with them. I don't understand why this RubyStreak character doesn't grasp that. Strange.

Mediocrity

Tonight I was reminded of some classmates I had as a college student.

In one class, I was scoring a B+, which was enough to exempt me from the final exam. I wanted to take the final though, so as to bump my score up to an A.

Some of my classmates kept dissuading me. "Don't do it! Don't do it! Why risk what you already have?" This bothered me because it showed that they were striving for mediocrity, and were unwilling to aim high. Sadly, I think this is indicative of my people in general.

I can't help but think that I would have been inspired to greater heights if I had been born here, with numerous models of excellence to inspire me.

Software development planning

I like the sentiments expressed in this article. I've seen far too many software development efforts fail due to shoddy planning and short-sightedness. This type of design work would never fly when doing mechanical or electronic design, yet it's often done in the computer programming field.

Stacy Haiduk

Whatever happened to Stacy Haiduk?