The Word of the Day

syn·er·gy (s^ǐn'ər-jē) [From Gr. συνεργιά, cooperation, from συνεργος, working together. ]
n. pl. syn·er·gies

1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

Tomorrow I have to fly to Vernon for the first round of meetings for the second integration project this year now that the company that bought the company I worked for has been, in turn, bought. I've worked for three companies this year without to much as emptying my recycling bin. I'm what's being recycled, twice this year.

I'm just thrilled about this for a variety of reasons. The last merger had me spending the bulk of this year stressed-out and trying to meet next to impossible deadlines for projects that are now dead. For example, a company that no longer exists doesn't need a shiny, new website. Nine months of eating TUMS like candy for nothing. Things were just getting to the point where they were under control and now I get to do it all over again... if I keep my job that is. The new company just migrated away from Lotus Notes, my specialty, earlier this year, mostly because they couldn't get competent staff in Vernon. Now I need to work with a guy who puts ", MCSE" after his name like it's a fucking Ph.D. to jury-rig some interoperability until one of us wins the pissing contest over which groupware system wins the day... oops, I mean, "until we identify synergies". The "Integration Strategy" document has the word "synergies" in it like Anne Rice uses "preternatural" - nearly every damn paragraph. To add insult to injury, I have to be at the airport at six o'clock in the morning, which I have no problem pulling off when I'm heading somewhere interesting like New York, but Vernon? Last time I was in Vernon was fifteen years ago for basic training. My "fond" memories of the place involve cleaning toilets, a lot of push-ups, getting yelled at a lot, passing out from exhaustion after shlepping a 50 Kg field radio 10 Km over a mountiain in 40 °C heat, and other fun stuff.

Have I conveyed my general annoyance sufficiently? I'm not looking forward to another year of cramming round pegs in square holes under "ambitious" (i.e. impossible) deadlines.

I got tired of having hair on all my clothes

( So I shaved Tharsis )

The problem with stupid people is they are too stupid to know they are stupid.

Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments Justin Kruger and David Dunning Department of Psychology Cornell University Abstract People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities.