Environmental Fun

Ok, so we all know that Al Gore has gotten the world to agree that Global Warming is our number 1 priority. He also has pitched the theory that Global Warming is going to lead to famine. Is is possible that the push to use bio-fuels as alternatives to fossil fuels will push us to a global food shortage sooner?

I was sitting at work reading an article (sometimes work does not seem like work except for the topics that I have to read about) and it is talking about agriculture prices. The oil folks are starting to worry, both the food oil and the fossil fuel oil folks, that the demand for vegetable oils and oilseeds could lead to a food shortage.

It is a good counter-point that global warming may not bring on a food shortage, but the demand for bio-fuels in order to curtail global warming could drive us into a food shortage much faster. Cotton is approaching $0.80/lb but corn is up 50% over what it was last year which was enough to drive cotton acreage down by 29%. Corn stocks to use ratio is approaching an all time low, even with the record corn productions. European feed-wheat production is so low they are using corn for feed which drives the market even more. Corn plantings are expected to go down and switch to soybeans. Soybean prices are 70% higher than last year and climbing. Soybeans are approaching a record low stocks to use ratio as well. Then you get to throw in wheat which is more then double the price it was last year and is now more profitable then corn, soybeans, or cotton to grow. The price of cotton is expected to skyrocket.

China is expected to reduce cotton acreage to plant more soybeans.

Demand for cotton is at an all time high and yet cotton stocks are dwindling……….whacky.

Do you go naked? Starve? Or burn fossil fuels?

And this is why I don’t think ethanol or bio-diesel (made from soy or other plant stock, algae based bio-diesel is different) is a viable solution to the problem. The short sighted concern of global warming due to fossil fuel usage without looking at the whole system is causing much more pressing problems much sooner…………too bad the media is too ignorant to address a complicated problem in an honest way.

More Government Fun

Last week I was subjected to a week of "Introduction to Supervision" training by the government. A nice bit of irony is that I am no longer a supervisor. Now, for anyone who is expecting that the mandatory training that supervisors are supposed to receive would teach you the stuff you need to know to be a supervisor (like legal and administrative responsibilities and policies) you would be wrong. The training consisted of being taught how to "motivate" people and some tactics that might be marginally useful for giving annual performance appraisals. In fact, the little advice (I say advice because it was not a lesson) given on who to contact in case of conduct problems was wrong. There is a big difference between Employee Relations (discipline and firing people) and Human Resources (hiring and training people) in the government.

All I can say is ARGH!!!!! This is the last of my training for the year.....

Various Updates

Been really busy, but I am back now and ready for more government training. Starting tomorrow is "Introduction to Supervision". After being a supervisor for a good long while of a large number of people and now supervising no one the government is sending me to supervisor training.

I am planning for my January trip to Vegas. La wants to see the Vegas Sign Boneyard. If anyone knows where there is still mud wrestling in Vegas, please pass it on, La really really really wants to see some.

Brad Pitt is organizing a new project in New Orleans. To his credit he is putting up $5 million of his own money. On the other hand, it is only for the 9th ward and oh yeah, check out the proposed houses to see how architects continue to prove they are idiots. See specifically the MVRDV to see what I mean.

Government Training Part One

Today was the first day of New Scientist Training. Leslie warned me that it was the three most useless days she spent in the government. As far as I can tell, she was right. We spent sessions teaching me stuff I have known from being in the agency for 9 years. I knew all of the speakers but the first one, who is one of the National Program Leaders (major program administrators in Washington) but I spent 2 hours at dinner with him tonight. The technology transfer presentation was painful since I am fairly well-versed in how screwy the office of tech transfer really is. The worst of all presentations was probably the one on publishing.....135 power point slides over 120 minutes, each slide was full of text with the same background and no graphics. The text was set to "fade in" on each slide. Copies of the slides were handed out before the presentation and the presentation consisted of being read the slides. Painful enough for you? Nope! When the presenter skipped a slide she did not go back, instead she ended the presentation, started over and then clicked through each slide until she caught up. FUN! The IT person did pretty much the same thing in her presentation.
Two more days to go.

Assorted goings on....

Chicago Food
My dad was asking if I had good food in Chicago....short answer is yes.

Saturday morning we had brunch at Blueberry Hill Pancake House....very tasty Irish breakfast of potatoes and corned beef hash. On Saturday night we went to get pizza at Aurelio's which was yummy pizza but not the traditional Chicago deep-dish. I had a very tasty Leinenkugel beer with the pizza. Leinie's is a good brewery that I try to enjoy whenever I see it. They have been brewing good beer in Wisconsin for over 140 years.
On Sunday night we ate at Goose Island and I had very yummy sausage (Bratwurst, Knockwurst, and Thuringer) and for desert a damn good creme brulee' from Alhambra which is a funny story in and of itself which involves missing our train back to Homewood and two wasted filet mignons. After missing our train by only a minute or two we headed to Miller's Pub to kill 2 hours.
Monday we had tasty polish sausage at the AWS trade show and then really good mexican food but I don't know where where it was. I did have a yummy Sol with dinner.
I grabbed a bite to eat at the airport before my flight on Tuesday and treated myself to a SuperDawg, it was good but the peppers were a bit much.

Back at Work
Wow! I did not miss anything. I got to work and dove into making the revisions on my Beltwide manuscript for the conference in January (editing on the plane makes the flight go by). I turned it into my boss and he told me he would get it back to me but not to expect it this week (and he knows I am off next week). Oh yeah, he did not have the paper I gave him last Wednesday read yet either.....SURPRISE SURPRISE! Same ole shit.

The good news is that tomorrow is my last day until after Thanksgiving week.

Greenville is too damned small!!!!
I woke up with a sore throat. I figure this has something to do with going from warm Mississippi to cold Chicago which became warm Chicago to Mississippi which now has a cold front passing through. I figured it was no big deal, I would just stop at the drug store on my way to work. There are two to chose from, a Walgreens and a CVS. Nope, at 6:45AM this morning neither was open! I stopped at Walgreens on my way home from work and got a couple of things but I decided to get a couple more this evening. That was not so easy, apparently CVS closes as 8:00PM in the Delta. Off to Walgreens I go! They are open until 10:00PM....woohoo! Big City time!

Returned to Delta

I got back from Chicago tonight. The flight from Little Rock to Midway was delayed by a half-hour (shocking that the flight might be late when the plane is not at the gate at the time you are supposed to be in the air) but the return flight left on time and even arrived early by 15 minutes. We must have had a heckuva tail-wind because the pilots kept apologizing for the turbulence. The drive back from Little Rock was uneventful.

Chicago was fun, but I am exhausted. I will just hit the beer highlights for starters. On Saturday night La and I went to Flossmoor Station Brewery. On Sunday night we went to Goose Island Brewery. On Monday evening we went to Brauhaus in Lincoln Park. It was all good (except for the Bourbon Imperial Stout at Goose Island, it makes my short list of very very bad beers).

If that list seems like a lot of beer it is not. There was more beer consumed at La's house as well as during dinners.....oh yeah a bit of bourbon was consumed as well.

More tomorrow. Time for bed.

Greetings from Little Rock

I am sitting in Little Rock National Airport. Yep, it is not an international airport, just a national airport. Arkansas is a strange place. This is a small airport and only a bit over 2 hours from Greenville (so comparable in drive as Jackson's and Memphis' airports are) and had the best price for a flight to Chicago. I have an hour to kill before my flight.
Security was a pain in the butt for such a small airport. One lady was checking IDs and she could not have worked slower if she tried (good federal employee). They had only one metal detector and one x-ray line running so it was also slow just to get through that.
On the bright side, they have free wireless throughout the airport!

I will be in Chicago until Tuesday afternoon. Many things are on the agenda, not the least of which is the AWS/FABTECH trade show (engineering geek that I am) and The Kiss at the Museum of Contemporary Art (the artist that La is).