Choice of topics tonight:

• Election day, of course. I voted.
• Employment situation. Not just just how much time I want to spend on that tonight. It's been festering for a while now though, so I think I would to well to, in my usual form, brood and hash over my thoughts on the matter on this, my web site.
• Tonight's Quality Televesion Programming. Joss Whedon is da man!

Alrighty then. Plenty of content possibily for this evening, as should be apparent.

As of the last time I looked at the tv a few minutes ago, it was still uncertain which member of the Republicrat Party will be taking the Whitehouse in January. I really don't care. They're both scum as far as I'm concerned. My slogan: When they come to take away your freedoms, don't blame me. I voted for Harry Browne. :)

Also of interest: Amendment 20, which would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana in the state of Colorado appeared to be passing by a thin margin. Common sense would dictate a "Well, duh! Of course it's a yes, people!" IMHO, of course.

24 to cut the growth. Soundly defeated. No surprise there. I think we can all be thankful for that. A Colorado where only the filthy rich can afford to live doesn't appeal to me. Obviouly, most voters felt the same way.

Referendum A. The multi-state sponsored gambling thing. Passing by a razor thin margin last I checked. I voted against it. That may or may not surprise some people. As far as I'm concerned, if people want to gamble, that's their shit. But to have the state government (which is supposed to be By The People, if you believe in all that sort of dogma) sponsoring an institution which is known to prey on the poor and weak of mind... it just doesn't work for me. To much like Orwell. (For those who have actually read 1984.) A tax on the stupid. I voted no.

Anything else of importance? Yeah probably, but I forget. Anyway, moving on...

After all that getting up, going to the polling place, and heading on to work this morning, my dulled, bored out of its wits brain recalled an email I had received at the crack of dawn. From a reader. A reader who I'm sure has been keeping up with the ramblings for a little while (lol), and may have noticed a slight, off on a tangent, mini rant during Sunday night's slightly gloomy rambling. The email contained a url. (Ok, ok, I'll get to the point!)

This inspiring entry, written by a person (I have occassionally vulturized the site, but not continuously) who dug himself out of the world of a job he wasn't satisfied with, and has found what looks to be very challenging and interesting work. (For him, at least. I personally try to avoid touching sendmail with a 10 foot pole whenever possible. A not-so-secret fact: MTAs don't like me. To each his own.)

Given trends at my work over the past few months, I couldn't help but pick up on this sentence:

"My work there slowly moved from being interesting and challenging to the point where I became what amounts to a cut-and-paste machine."

Ouch. Especially on a day, after reading that inspiring bit of web literature, I go to work only to find myself clunking around in Notepad, of all things. (Yes, I said just that. Notepad. You read correctly. The pile of shit excuse for a text editor that that runs on an OS we all know and hate. Okay, most of us hate it, not all of us. But I think we would be hard pressed to find anyone who likes Notepad, even among the Windows aficionados. But today, my job required it. Yucko.)

Now I'm not saying that Notepad, by itself, is going to make me go postal or anything. The point is that I look at myself, I look at my job, I look at what I'm going to work and doing every day, and I do not like what's happening. We're talking trends, here. Over the course of months. I have to ask myself, When do I say "Enough!" How much brain waste do I endure until I take matters into my own hands, hit the job search sites, and get into gear? Where does it end?

This is my life we're talking about here. Do I really want to spend half my waking hours going through motions which are meaningless, unfulfilling, and unchallenging in all regards? How long?

I can sit around and try to blame other people all I want, but ultimately, that's unproductive, stupid, and my destiny is really up to me anyway. My resumé is right there on the hard drive, all dusty, outdated, and needing to be polished.

Part of my also thinks: Don't I have any company loyalty? No. I don't think so. Not anymore. Not after recent events. Why should I? No, I'm not going to elaborate. (Ya know, confidentiality, SEC regs, and all.) Just no. Not a shred.

Do I feel loyalty to my coworkers? Yes. Nuff said.

Now after what I just typed here, some readers might be getting the impression that I intend to walk in tomorrow and quit. That is not the case. I'm not ready for that. No need to go off half cocked. As my mentor has pointed out, forethought and planning are things I need to learn.

I could also say that there are still a lot of good things about my current place. Good people. Good work environment. Light, easy office atmosphere. (At least if you like working with a bunch of total PERVERTS! ;) The arch pervert knows who he is. [smirk] There is a LOT that is GOOD about my job.

So why would I be making such statements as the ones above? No matter how good the trappings, when you come home just feeling like you just wasted most of 8 hours, day after day, it might be time to start thinking about the possibilities.

So. A little planning, and maybe a little forethought. Keep my eyes open. Take a look at what might be out there. Check the ads. See if anything looks interesting. Maybe make contact with some people. Go to BLUG, and see if anyone there is interested in someone of my skillset. Polish the resume a bit. Update it. Make it presentable. That's the plan/thought for now.

No sudden moves. No jumping ship. No leaving without any clear idea of where to go to next. That would be stupid. Right now, just test the waters. Keep the eyes open. Keep biding time. Yes. A plan.

I suppose it would also be a good idea to state some sort of goal. What am I going for here? What would be the ideal? Something that I can take as a challenge to my intellect, which which has intrinsic reward just from getting it done. Kind of like programming. What a concept!

Yeah, that's kind of vague. Maybe I'll leave it there for now. I would like to work on forming a clearer idea of what I would like my direction in life to be. (Imagine that! The book my mentor recommended, and I read last weekend has some guided steps a person can use to do just that.)

(I suppose on the "challenging" part, my current job might qualify. Challenging to one's tolerance for mindless repitition for who knows how many months on end. Yeah, a real challenge. I suppose some people would say that builds character. Good for them.)

Alright, enough on that. I've babbled my heart out, stated a course of action in the short term (keep eyes open, stay where I am, but prepare for the possibility of a future course change if needed), and endeavored to keep the flamage index regarding my current employer at a mimimum. (considering...)

And now, our third and final topic for the evening....

Da da da da! Tonight, on the Double-U B's New Tuesday, an All New Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed by an All New Episode of Angel.

Buffy rocked. Or should I say, Tara rocked. Tara's family.... lol. If I might appropriate the words of Chris Farley... That was awesome.

Same goes for Angel. (Or should I say: Wesley, the mighty hero!) Great humor, drama, and wicked fun for your inner demon. Yipee!

Okay, those reviews sucked. Maybe ign can do a better job.

I'm off of this pulpit now. Time to go check how the final results are doing. I might even be able to find out which idiot will be next to occupy the Whitehouse. Let's go see...