Throne of Weapons

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"Throne of Weapons" - Cristovao Canhavato (Kester) in Maputo, Mozambique, 2001

This is an artwork displayed in the British Museum. The accompanying note reads:

"This Throne is made from decommissioned weapons collected since the end of Mozambique's civil war in 1992. During the war, seven million guns - none of them made in Africa - poured into the country. In 1995 Bishop Dinis Sengulane initiated a project called "Arms into Tools." The Mozambican people were encouraged to swap their weapons for agricultural, domestic, and construction tools. Artists then turned the decommissioned weapons into sculptures.

This is a contemporary artwork, but thrones and stools are traditionally symbols of power and prestige in Africa. They are also symbols of discussion and debate."

A Throne made of guns, for those who would exalt and worship weapons. Mr. LaPierre, your chair awaits you. Sit on it.

Is this any way to do business?

LA Grafitti

At work, we're working with a local businessman who is collaborating with another local business. We're providing a venue and services for a short-term project of theirs.

Business A is a repeat customer of ours. We've been doing business with him for the past 10 or more years. The final result of the project is wonderful. The methods used to get there....not so great.

Business B is Business A's most recent collaborator. Over the years, we've seen Business A work with other collaborators, and, in some cases, have been witness to the rather ugly dissolution of the partnership.

This year was not much different than most. We've had to argue with Business A; negotiate the terms of the contract. Because he's had the ear of the boss of our parent organization, we've allowed him privileges that we normally don't - like breaking certain deposit payments into installments. We've had a difficult time finalizing details, and have had to hound his insurance provider for the correct documents, but in the end, we've managed to stay on top of things. We're only two days away from the unveiling of the project.

The head of Business B just came into my office, looking all serious, and asked to sit down privately. He had a request. Would it be possible, he asked, to change the name on the contract from Business A to Business B?

I could tell he was geared up to explain and plead, and provide all kinds of justification for what he considered a rather startling request.

I think he was a little surprised when I said, "Sure, we can do that. Here's what I need from you...." And I provided him with some sample documentation.

You see, Business A has done this before. Oh, yes, and much more than this. We've been involved in so many complications of his.  Hiding from process servers. Insufficient payments. Once, we had to collect on a past-due bill after he stiffed the Police Department. We've already learned to accept only cashiers' checks from him. Wonder what it is this time?

The one good thing about my job going away is that I'll never have to deal with this guy again!

You would never know

Unless you looked, that I am wearing an incredible pair of socks today!

 

Let's see if these can keep my socks from getting mixed up with [The Man I Love]'s sock drawer!

Date night

A sidecar at Musso's

 Last night we went out to the movies and then dinner. A date night!!

We saw "Argo" - which I highly recommend. Then we had a dinner date with a friend from out of town. He was staying in Hollywood, right at Hollywood and Vine, so what better recommendation for a Hollywood experience than Musso and Frank Grill? We called and made a 7:00 pm reservation.

The perils of LA traffic are predictable, yet sometimes even the best of us forget. We took Santa Monica Boulevard from the Westside to Hollywood, and at Wilshire we got snarled in the lane closures and congestion near the Beverly Hilton for the Golden Globes Awards. Luckily it was only the set-up day on Saturday and not the show!

California cold spell

Our house

It's cold here in Southern California, and for those of you who live in really cold places, what that means is that we have weather like yours. It was 22 degrees Fahrenheit overnight, and it's expected to stay that way for another couple of days.

Unlike people who live in more northern climes, we feel the cold more in Southern California, and while you might think that's because we're pampered, thin-skinned wimps, there's another reason. Our houses are simply not made for cold weather.

Take your dog to work day

Today Jack came to work with me. Here he is waiting for the postman.

Live-blogged on my I-phone.

Thematic Photographic - On the water

Carmi at the blog "Written, Inc." posts a photographic challenge each week at Thematic Photographic. This week, the theme is "On the water."

Water has played an important part in Carmi's life. What about you? Share your images at "Written, Inc."

Click to "embiggen."

Rivers are such an important part of human civilization. Estuary, highway, food source, power source - human beings have clustered at the river's edge since the beginning of time. Here in one of the world's mightiest cities in 2009, we rode a water taxi on its still-vital river.

You know what city it is, don't you?

Happy birthday to the London Tube!

The escalator down to the Piccadilly Line

Today is the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, or "the tube."

I love subways - something about a magical train underground that whooshes you from place to place without dealing with traffic seems great to me. I spent 4 years living in New York City during its dirtiest and most dire years, and rode the subway everywhere I needed to go.

I love exploring Los Angeles' small light rail system - some of it underground and some overground. I liked using Seattle's Bus Tunnel. In every city I visit - from Chicago to Edmonton - if there's a subway I like to try it. The Paris Metro. The London Underground.

Happy Birthday to the Tube!

Adventures in Job Searching

Today I participated in an activity that all too many Americans have participated in since the downturn of the economy - I took a qualifying exam for a job.

This was for a position in a public agency, and it was the kind of exam that uses a computer scan for grading; the old "fill in the bubble with a Number Two pencil" kind of exam.

There were over a hundred applicants. We all sat at tables in a big room, and as the test booklets were handed out, we were warned not to open the booklet until instructed.

Let's just say that the experience took me back to high school. There were questions about grammar and spelling, questions about logic, problem-solving questions, and - of course - math.

"Mr. Jones gets a monthly salary of $4,560. If he gets a 3.2% pay raise, what will his monthly salary be?" If his employer cuts his hours by 10%, what will his monthly salary be?"

 "If it takes a team of 7 people 9 days to do a job, how many days would it take a team of 3 people?" Ummmm.....I'm not even sure how to start figuring it out! Should I just pick one of the multiple-choice answers that seems right? Should I skip it and come back to it?

Moving on, I'm given a scenario of 8 workers who must be scheduled for shifts, and each worker has conditions that must be met - worker A can only work in the afternoon, worker B must share a shift with worker C, and worker C can only work on alternate Tuesdays. How many workers will be available on Thursday next?

Choose the sentence that contains a grammatical error. Read sentence A. Then choose a sentence that would restate it in a better way - including "d. none of the above."

There I was, staring at the bubbles on the test page, gripping my pencil, sweating and twisitng my feet together under the desk, writing on scratch paper (provided) and erasing furiously. I felt suddenly thirteen years old again.

The other applicants were all ages, all ethnicities. Some were dressed in suits and wore ties; others more casually. Some were very young, fresh out of college, and others were older, with graying hair. One man near me wore sagging jeans and a sweatshirt. Still, I glanced at him suspiciously. Was he better at math than I am?

Two and a half hours were set aside for the test, and I finished in about two hours. I went back and checked over my math questions - there were only 20 - and reworked the ones I was uncertain about. But, seriously, in today's workplace, who does math by hand?

When was the last time you were made to feel like you were back in high school?