Swear words

Close on the heals of acronyms comes swear words. I rarely swear. Not for any particular religious reason but because the point of rude words is to express a negative emotion and I find I can do that very well with tone of voice or ordinary words. Actually I find it funny to hear some people swear because similar to acronyms the words themselves have lost their original meaning. If you reconstruct what they have said with the literal meaning of the words they are using you realize they are speaking total nonsense. Emotially loaded nonsense, but nonsense none the less.

Why acronyms are a bad thing

I work in computer systems so I deal with lots of acronyms. I hate them, because they soon stop having a meaning other than "the name of that thing over there". How many times have you heard someone talk about their GPS system? What they are really talking about is their global positioning system system. It is nonsense when you spell out the words, but because GPS usually means "that navigational thing" to most people they don't realize they are talking nonsense.

In addition, because they are typically short acronyms often have very different meanings depending on who you talk to. When somebody says OTC do they mean over counter or order to cash? When they say STD do they mean short term disability or sexually transmitted disease? Do they even know what they are saying or is the acronym just a buzz word they learned somewhere? I have often sat through meetings where people use acronyms that are wrong in the context are using them in.

When I work I often prefer to take the long route and avoid the use of acronyms. It makes things more wordy, but far clearer.

The arts

The problem with staging a performance of "Dancing the Dance of a Thousand Deaths" is that after act one the other 999 dancers don't come back from intermission.

Tired of Michigan

I have lived in Michigan my whole life and I am getting rather tired of it. Every 10 years we have a recession and Michigan gets it first, gets it worst, and is the last to recover. Plus we have very cold winters, and as I get older I like winter less and less.

I don't think I would mind it as much if all the jobs weren't clustered around Detroit. I am more of a small town person and metro-Detroit is huge. A few years ago I lived out in the country and commuted, but when my wife passed I had to move closer to work to better take care of my son. Being a single parent with a one hour commute just doesn't work.

So what am I going to do about it? Nothing for now. With the recession in full gear and house prices down I can't afford to move. But I have decided that the next time I move it will be out of state. I don't know when it will be or where I will move to, but it will definately be out of Michigan.

I have considered moving out of state several times before but have always stayed because of family. But as my family gets older I see less and less of them. Some have died, some have moved out of state themselves, and some have become reclusive. So with less family to consider the only thing I have to worry about is my son. Depending on when the move happens and where he is with his life then (high school, college, or working) I will either move closer to him or he will move with me.