So here I am, working a second shift.
Not that it isn't a smart idea, mind you. Why some higher ups decided to make our department work a second shift is beyond me. Idiots. They have NO idea what goes on in this department and how we make things work.
So here's my question to the cyberspace person who stumbles across this blog, if ever. Does the size of your company automatically coincide with the amount of common sense you seem to not show?
Two incidents.
One: My company decides that we're not working fast enough, so they decide to make us work 2 shifts. Not only is this stupid, it has slowed down the workflow. Gag. They didn't even ask us our opinion. So now if I work the night shift, I find myself with jobs that can't be completed because Customer Service goes home at 5pm ... and I'm still here working after that.
What comet struck the head of my boss up the chain? Who is he listening to? Why is he/she/them/it not even caring about the strain this puts on my family and my coworkers??
Gag. I haven't been this close to looking for a new job since I left the newspaper buisness 4 years ago.
Two: Adobe shipped Creative Suite 3 with bugs. I know all programs have them... but then you'd guess a company as big and 'user friendly' as Adobe would be open to all bug reports. Not this time. I've left emails, messages and even bug reports. No answer.
And it cuts into my design work having to mess with this bug. Arg.
You can see the Adobe Forum here.
I'll stop ranting. Working this late (8:32pm) is hard on ya when you haven't done it in 4 years. Blarg.
Here's to hoping this blog is more updated. And more positive!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Book Review: "Prowl" by Gordan Runyan
Title: Prowl
Author: Gordan Runyan
Type: Christian military fiction
Publisher: Deo Volente
There is a problem with military fiction that is an “either/or” conundrum. You get either too many details or not enough and characterization and plot lines suffer.
Dale Brown, Tom Clancy, W.E. Griffin and the like seem to balance it well, although Brown is all Air Force, Clancy mostly Navy and Griffin is stuck in W.W.II and Vietnam.
“Prowl” doesn’t really suffer from trying to bridge a Christian fiction novel and a Tom Clancy-like Navy-submarine thriller — it does focus on the great characters — but it sometimes bogs down in the details.
Central to the story is Machinist’s Mate First Class Mark Reed and his wife, J.L. Their relationship, a not-so-strong-because-of-long-Navy-voyages-relationship, is rocked even more as Mark heads off on another 90-day cruise on a submarine. It’s a career-building cruise for Mark, but viewed as a marriage-breaker for newly-saved J.L. Apparently her Christian conversion set them apart even more, making the drama of his emergency cruise even more heavy.
You see, someone murdered a sailor on Mark’s new sub. Only everyone doesn’t know it was murder — they think it was a stress-induced suicide.
And to make things even more complicated, North Koreans have a secret sub that Mark’s sub, the U.S.S. Omaha, is sent out to find — and a traitorous, American hacker-turned-spy has given the North Koreans a way to sink the Omaha.
And to pile more on to the plot, J.L. and her friend, Rita, get involved in a shoot-out in Hawaii with some North Koreans and are chased by a fake FBI agent that is looking for Rita — who really is an undercover-spy.
Oh, and by the way, J.L. is pregnant and Mark is in danger of finding the murderer still on board the sub.
Sound complicated? Yowza!
This book works more than it doesn’t work. It falls into the technothriller trap of giving WAY too many useless details about submarine life that don’t quite make sense, except to sailors that have lived on one. It also assumes the reader has some idea of Navy terminology and life — something that is a bit irritating.
What works is how the Christian element doesn’t overpower the storyline and actually feels right. And even if you aren’t Christian, it is an interesting sub-plot to the story.
The action builds well and doesn’t get lost. The book really times its punches just right and the main characters don’t come across as know-it-all superheroes. They’re real people living in a crazy story, yes, but the action doesn’t feel too outlandish.
This is a good read. The only hurt is the plethora of sub details, but it is a great romp and worth the time to read it.
Dale's Book Grade B+
Author: Gordan Runyan
Type: Christian military fiction
Publisher: Deo Volente
There is a problem with military fiction that is an “either/or” conundrum. You get either too many details or not enough and characterization and plot lines suffer.
Dale Brown, Tom Clancy, W.E. Griffin and the like seem to balance it well, although Brown is all Air Force, Clancy mostly Navy and Griffin is stuck in W.W.II and Vietnam.
“Prowl” doesn’t really suffer from trying to bridge a Christian fiction novel and a Tom Clancy-like Navy-submarine thriller — it does focus on the great characters — but it sometimes bogs down in the details.
Central to the story is Machinist’s Mate First Class Mark Reed and his wife, J.L. Their relationship, a not-so-strong-because-of-long-Navy-voyages-relationship, is rocked even more as Mark heads off on another 90-day cruise on a submarine. It’s a career-building cruise for Mark, but viewed as a marriage-breaker for newly-saved J.L. Apparently her Christian conversion set them apart even more, making the drama of his emergency cruise even more heavy.
You see, someone murdered a sailor on Mark’s new sub. Only everyone doesn’t know it was murder — they think it was a stress-induced suicide.
And to make things even more complicated, North Koreans have a secret sub that Mark’s sub, the U.S.S. Omaha, is sent out to find — and a traitorous, American hacker-turned-spy has given the North Koreans a way to sink the Omaha.
And to pile more on to the plot, J.L. and her friend, Rita, get involved in a shoot-out in Hawaii with some North Koreans and are chased by a fake FBI agent that is looking for Rita — who really is an undercover-spy.
Oh, and by the way, J.L. is pregnant and Mark is in danger of finding the murderer still on board the sub.
Sound complicated? Yowza!
This book works more than it doesn’t work. It falls into the technothriller trap of giving WAY too many useless details about submarine life that don’t quite make sense, except to sailors that have lived on one. It also assumes the reader has some idea of Navy terminology and life — something that is a bit irritating.
What works is how the Christian element doesn’t overpower the storyline and actually feels right. And even if you aren’t Christian, it is an interesting sub-plot to the story.
The action builds well and doesn’t get lost. The book really times its punches just right and the main characters don’t come across as know-it-all superheroes. They’re real people living in a crazy story, yes, but the action doesn’t feel too outlandish.
This is a good read. The only hurt is the plethora of sub details, but it is a great romp and worth the time to read it.
Dale's Book Grade B+
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