Sour Notes

Business as Usual
The portents were there, but the week ended on a sour note. At work there was some shuffling of senior management, not surprising because the old CEO had retired and the new CEO had given hints that he was unhappy with the way certain things were done. My group was unaffected, but the work will increase because there are new executives to educate and we’ll have to brace for more questions on every proposal.

The auditors met with us this week: 1) we owed them some schedules and confirmation letters for the audit, 2) a few of our systems weren’t working perfectly and will need to be fixed by year-end. I moved the tasks to next Wednesday, when I’ll get back.

Next year’s budget was shipped off to headquarters, but it’s become clear that we’ll need to make changes, if for no other reason than to incorporate the management changes just announced. So I’m heading off to Chicago for a couple of days.

Darkness in the City of Lights
After two weeks the riots in France have finally elicited coverage by the mainstream media (MSM). Yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle and New York Times home pages carried nary a mention, but they can no longer ignore the violence, now that gasoline bombs are being set off in central Paris. The coverage was unceasing when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August, and blame was assigned within hours. The looting in New Orleans was the fault of various U.S. government agencies, if not the racism still endemic in American society. The hurricanes themselves were the result of failure to ratify the Kyoto protocols.

One would hate to think that the MSM had failed to give prominent play to the unfolding tragedy in France because there was no way to pin this one on President Bush. It’s hard to develop a coherent narrative when neither the French government, who are the good guys because they opposed the war in Iraq, nor French Muslim immigrants, whose unemployment, anomie, and solidarity with the Palestinian cause justify the rioting, are at fault. Chickens only roost in the United States of America.

Aloha, Mr. G
We got word that an old family friend had passed away. He collapsed at home, having lived a long, full, and giving life. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. © 2005 Stephen Yuen