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2002-01-23 - 12:44 p.m.
This weekend JohnnyBravo and
I have a date with another couple. Well, actually I don't know
if it'll be just the couple who invited us or a whole gang that
they know or what. The guy, Mark, works at the same company as
JB and they also went to the same high school, back in the day.
We haven't really spent any time with Mark & Wife so it was
sorta out of the blue that he asked if we wanted to join them
in Pioneer Square this Saturday.
I met these guys last summer
at JB's 10 year class reunion. Wife was bubbly, not so much in
a witty effervescent way; more in a helium-saturated, squeaky
giggles way. At one point she hauled out pictures of their dogs
and showed everyone crowing "these are my babies until Mark
gives me some real ones!" which I thought would dissolve
Mark into a pool of embarrassment - but he just gave an aw-shucks
look and then told us all how great their dogs were. If I had
produced a picture of our cat JB probably would have refused
to speak with me for like a month. We also got to hear: how great
Mark's job is and how he has had an actual meeting with the
big company boss, how super their big house is on almost
a square mile in a really expensive area of town, and how
they are having so much fun with their new 30 ft. Bayliner
boat.
So I'm feeling sort of ambivalent
about the outing, it's been a few months and they've probably
either adopted some sort of beautiful, special child,
or he's retired at 28, or they will have bought a condo in Jamaica
that we are totally invited to, if that's a place we,
you know, go to often.
----
AOL VS MICROSOFT: Decision To
Resolve Issues in Nude Wrestling Match! Wouldn't that be great?
It's like Steve Case and Bill Gates, all naked and mud covered
and stuff. Wait, that would actually be gross.
I'm not on board with the whole
let's-legally-attack-Microsoft-because-they-are-huge thing. Have
you read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged? In Atlas, government
officials demonized singular achievement, preaching 'do what
is best for the people' - including cutting into the profits
of successful companies, and creating an "Anti-dog-eat-dog
Rule" to stop competition.
It makes me think of my last
job, at Asinine Craptacular Management Executives, or, let's
call it ACME (ACME suffered mightily from many of the ills that
befall young tech companies, like a company management team with
brains formed entirely of circus peanut candy material). We had
one competitor that basically dominated our marketplace. Even
though their product supposedly didn't do as much as ours, they
were faster, smarter, bigger, more strategic, made better partnerships,
had more money, and were just all around better than us, and
they got all our business.
I know this is not a direct
parallel with what has happened between MSFT and Netscape, or
any of the countless others that are whining to the legal system
right now. But my point is, ACME didn't deserve the business.
Our competitor did. THEY probably had actual BRAIN material in
their skulls.
Here's a quote from a government
official in Atlas: "We're after power and we mean
it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government
has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there
aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many
things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live
without breaking laws."
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comments so far.
I have moved. - 1.03.2005
Obviously, a work in progress. - 12.27.2004
Happy holidays! - 12.24.2004
Listen, I am not a complete dick, it's not like I want Joe to die alone surrounded by cats or something. - 12.23.2004
Plus I am convinced my butt is extra big when it's upside down. - 12.22.2004
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