injury timeout

So I spent yesterday in the emergency room at Rockdale Medical Center.

I woke up and my leg was pretty sore. I put lights on the house Sunday (two story house, 11 windows and the cute icicle lights on the eaves). By the time I got to work my leg was throbbing and I could find no position in which it gave me any relief. I left early and had my wife come home and take me to the hospital.

Did I mention that I hate hospitals? And doctors. And being sick. And the guilt I feel when I'm sick. And the fact that the last time we ended up in that place we spent 4 hours there and never saw anybody, not even the triage nurse.

So within half an hour we were in a room talking to a doctor.

Tests, Xrays, pain medication, muscle relaxers, very good explanations of all the time and procedures...

I guess they heard us talking when they decided to revamp their building and their systems. That's something that I think companies have a hard time with. LISTENING. Frankly, I have a hard time understanding why bosses don't listen to their employees. Why Captains, Lieutenants, Seargents and Squad leaders don't listen to their enlisted men. Why REPRESENTATIVES and elected officals don't listen to their constituents.

When we get the Democratic and Republican nominees for the Presidential race for 2008, what input do we have in the selection? And then we get to vote on those two (and some independents) "qualified" candidates. Lets see, states select delegates (via witchcraft and pressing of palms) and they nominate a candidate. Then they go to their respective conventions and nominate a party candidate (using calculus, more witchcraft, referencing the latest Farmer's Almanac and more pressing of the flesh). Then we have our Presidential Candidates, groomed from birth, held in high favor by the people that are part of the system (read: problem) and the general public gets to vote on them. Where are our choices? Seems the price of entry is too high for "commoners".

"I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere, for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intelligent, and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as the only available one..."
-- by Henry David Thoreau - 1849

Detailed description of the selection process here.

Then we get to see the debates, see the television commercials.

"Or take it one slice closer to the bone. Leverage care. For the cost of a jar of peanut butter, you can be a Great Mom, the kind every kid would love to have. You can look out on your happy kids playing in that perfect suburban backyard and breathe a little sigh of contentment that life's so good, with not a wicked witch in sight. Just like on television.

We die. And there's more than one way to get it over with. Advertising has some serving suggestions for your premature burial."
-- Cluetrain Manifesto

I want choices. Real ones. Not lip service. I want conversations about what type of government is right for me. For me and my morales, for me and my needs. The majority rule is not working. We need to speak up. We need to not be governed. The BEST government doesn't start with a capital letter. The BEST government is composed of people, not career politicians. Liberty is freedom from government to stand as an individual, to be protected but not squashed. We need a support group, not a government. There needs to be more conversation and less regulation. What control do we as a society have over where our tax dollars are spent. I mean really have a say.

Lets start talking about things that matter with people who make a difference. And the othere need to start LISTENING.

Thanks for taking care of me yesterday all you support people at Rockdale Medical Center.

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio

artificial trees

So I'm putting up one of TEN, uh huh, ten Christmas Trees tonight. My wife likes Christmas. A lot. We'll have people over this weekend to eat Christmas Friendship Cannelloni. You can vote for my recipe on chefs.com to win $10,000 in the Treasured Recipes contest. Really. Go to the site and register and vote for my Christmas Friendship Cannelloni. The top five vote winners get to go to San Francisco for a cook-off and the winner gets $10,000! Of course, the 85 plus friends we cook it for every Christmas will tell you that it rocks.

Anyway. Artificial trees.

The Cluetrain Manifesto thesis # 15 says:

In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.

I got micro-managed today at work. Again. By my command and control temp boss. I just don't understand that. I mean, do people just need some sort of control fix? Is it due to repression? Is it victims of the corporate silos trying to break out? It seems to be a trickle down phenomenon. It seems to be a repetitive event. I just left a place because of my command and control problems (read: Ex-Friend, Creative Director, Illustrious Potentate, Corporate Zombie). Serves me right for having his back for 3 years. I just don't understand how people can pretend to be trustworthy and then hobble the organized, thoughtful people that get the job done and want to grow and be creative. Seems that the mission statement didn't mention anything about mature, responsible, going places employees being able to do their own work without a Kindergarten Cop on patrol. Their loss. I'm talking now. I'm thinking that when this company of mine gets going, I'll hire people to work from home and give them more than what I promise them. You know, we'll talk every day. We'll collaborate. I'm tired of the lip service. I'm tired of being that lip service voice for companies that don't get it. WE ARE REAL. We are tired of working for artificial companies and artificial people giving artificial voices to their "culture." Get a purpose. Take a stance. Let go of the drama.

Government needs to get a clue, too. Local government, State government, Federal government.
You cannot exert power over those you do not have relationships with. That's tyranny. Take a stance. BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE. Represent.

And Cluetrain Manifesto thesis # 25 says:

Companies [read: and governments] need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.

But they wouldn't talk to me while I was working for them. Just the same old rhetoric, same old command and control, no freedom, no expression of creativity, no fixing what's broken, no listening. Well, they'll talk to me when their precious market share drops because I start talking to people. Then they'll want to talk to me. And I'll be laughing (read: Not interested).

Tom Johnson — Graphic Designer — TJ Studio