Hey where you been

A funny thing happened on the way to my blog. . . I was kidnapped by Alien Space Bats? Drove my Delorean to fast? Accidentally discovered a rift in the time space continuum? Choose whichever you like best. A lot has happened it the last 7 months. First, we went on strike for a couple of days in September. Just long enough for me to spend 8 hours walking the picket line in a monsoon. Which are quite rare in Michigan by the way.

I also had the opportunity to read a number of great books. The few that especially stuck out as being superior are Life of Pi by Yann Martel, The Religion by Willocks, and Against the Day by Pynchon. It seems that Pynchon's work is getting more accessible, reading V. or The Crying of Lot 49 was hard work, though worth it. The more recent works like Mason and Dixon and Against the Day are less. . .I don't know exactly what word fits. . .cryptic? surreal?. . .well if you read them you know what I mean. But, Against the Day especially is more readable, followable, but still keeps that fantastic voice of Pynchon's earlier works. Truly great books.

I also started reading the "First Law" series by Joe Abercrombie. I enjoyed the first 2 books of the series, The Blade Itself, and Before they are Hanged. On a very sad note Robert Jordan passed since my last post. His books brought many people hours and hours of pleasure. There has been some Internet chat regarding someone else finishing the Wheel of Time, but I'm ambivalent on that.

If you look back at my post from August 18 of 2007 I hint at the Two Tier wage agreement and the death of democracy there in. . .well the new National Agreement grants that 2 tier system. Stay tuned for my rant on that.

Weighty Discussions

At work yesterday I had to go to the Toolroom and have some steel braces made for the chairs in the break area for negotiations. It seems the bottoms were breaking out of the chairs. (Please insert your own punchline here.). . .that's what I call heavy negotiations. I know it is bad but I couldn't help myself. Less than one month until our old agreement expires and this week we passed a strike authorization by 97%, so things could get interesting. I won't talk about the two tiered wage agreement, the erosion of the American working class, and the eventual downfall of western civilization (they're interrelated) but I won't. . .today.

13 seconds to burn

My favorite song from my favorite local band, 19 Wheels, was titled 13 seconds to burn. The refrain goes something like this, 40 years. . .10 months. . .3 weeks. . .4 days. . .20 hours. . .six minutes and 13 seconds to burn. The song is about a guy in prison but some days it could be my theme song. I don't actually have that long until retirement, but sometimes it feels like it. Why, you ask, would I feel that way? (Or maybe you didn't ask but I'm going to tell you anyway.) Here's an example, a few weeks ago I asked that management not make a certain decision because they might have to renege on the employees transfer, they said that if they had to turn it around they would, now that the situation has arisen they are going to make me write a grievance to correct it. AARGH! When I asked why they would want to show themselves to be a bunch of liars, they got mad. Perhaps I should have said they were disingenuous, maybe that would have softened the blow. I think a quote from Ring Lardner (I think) that sums their reply, "Shut up," he explained.