G20 London protests are pointless

I'd like to think I am a liberal, reasonable kind of person and up for the idea of free speech, freedom of expression waka-waka-waka, but I have to admit I am feeling very tired and weary at the thought of next week's G20 London Summit protests.

As a friend who is currently clinging onto his job and hoping to avoid the next round of job cuts said : "Capitalism doesn't exist any more".

So, what exactly are they trying to prove?

I think this is all just a poor excuse for an opportunity to kick off , vent some energy and cause some damage, all under the auspices of being "anti-capitalist".

In all, a very British protest and one that hangs on that great British trait of being jealous of anyone who appears to be doing better than oneself.

Grow up, get a job and start contributing something positive.

Corporate balderdash

Had another meeting today with the total nightmare woman I am working with on a certain project.
To be quite honest; I have no idea why the client roped her in to get involved as she plainly has no technical ability and simply relies on resting on her laurels of past role as 'Head of XXXXX'. I am well aware that is why she got onto this job in the first place. As far as I can tell, her sole contribution to this particular project we are working on is that she is outsourcing her share of the work to some chap in South Africa.

On one hand, I admire the chutzpah and the business model; ie, why bother doing the work yourself if you can just get someone else to do it and charge a big whack on top, but on the other hand, I totally resent the kind of corporate bull**** she brings to it. I just can't be bothered with all that anymore.

It is bad enough listening to her use every kind of buzzword known to man (silo anyone?) but worse still as I know she has no practical ability and that this is all just puff to convey the illusion that she knows more than is actually the case.
I could live with all this claptrap were it not for the fact that she insists on trying to take control of the project - or at least giving the client the appearance of it - by making sure that she is the first to email the client to report back on anything (that moves), even if it does not involve her.

I am so bored by her behaviour; brings back awful memories of working on a trading floor where everyone was out to cover their own a** and sod everyone else. In the meantime, I'm just playing at being a Teletubby and keeping my fingers firmly in my ears: LA LA LA.

Bored of The Apprentice

Haven't posted here for absolutely ages - real life has got in the way!

Have been hugely busy with work; mostly good though have some slack / non-payers I am having to chase up. Seems to be a sign of the times.
I speak with other business owners and they all seem to be saying pretty much the same thing.
Personally; I have no problem holding back on payment to BIG companies (the kind who can afford to wait), but the one thing I have always been is scrupulously fair in making sure I pay my smaller suppliers on time. It's never good to poo on your own doorstep and who knows when I might need their goodwill.
All in, though, the good is outweighing the bad and I am ruthlessly keeping my overheads to a minimum. I'm gaining momentum which is the most important thing...slowly but most definitely surely.

All of which leads me, in a very roundabout way, to the first episode of The Apprentice on TV tonight.
Surely I can't be the only viewer to think it somehow feels totally, totally irrelevant? (shurely not?)
I usually really enjoy watching this as a pure entertainment show, rather than as a 'business-how-to', but this year it really does feel like a bunch of kids playing shop. It is probably because I have a hundred and one things on my mind - pitches to prepare for as well as making sure I get the money I am owed - but it all just seems so puerile in the face of a full-scale Recession.

I just don't have the patience anymore to watch a gaggle of girls kvetching over some silly small task. If they want a proper task, then they can go off and chase up the money I am owed.

Obama snacks

NOT coming soon to a shop near you: these rather delectable looking Indonesian Obama-themed snacks.

Currently under investigation on the grounds of 'elf 'n' safety (*they contain a small, potentially unhygienic plastic toy), they are but one of a whole host of Obama merchandise which includes ice-cream ("Yes Pecan") and a doll ("an action figure we can believe in").

How long before the fake-Viagra merchants in China start to use Obama to promote their offerings, much in the same way as with David Beckham?

Mmmmm; yes we can........

Morgan Tsvangirai's wife dies

I feel so sad to hear the news that Susan, the wife of Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean PM, has been killed in a car crash.

Details are still relatively unclear, but I feel deeply sorry for his loss, not least as the couple were married for 31 years.
Quite apart from the fact that Mr Tsvangirai has had to endure countless struggles in the political arena, to lose someone so suddenly and in such horrible circumstances is unjust.

My thoughts are with him and his family.

Boris Becker engaged... again

Amusing to read in the gossip rags that Boris Becker has got engaged...again.

I know full well myself that German telly is not an epitome of high-culture at the best of times (*have you ever watched "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". I have and it's not pretty)
but even so, this mawkish display of nigh middle-aged lurve was a little hard to stomach, not least as it came hot on the heels of an earlier engagement to another woman only a few months ago.

Don't get me wrong; I'm a sucker for anything that remotely resembles a romantic gesture, but I can't help but question the sincerity - nay, credibility - of a man who constantly falls in love and feels the need to experience only grand passions and the rollercoaster emotions of "being in love".
The kind of man who is in love with the idea of being in love and uses this an an excuse to hide the fact that he's actually rather scared of the 'c' word (*commitment) with all the mundane realities of life that entails.

Frankly, this all reminds me of an ex whom I once mistakely thought to be The Love of My Life. Whilst he gave me some of the best life-defining memories I will ever have, he just couldn't cut it as a long-term proposition. Such a shame.
He is now 38, single and is, I hear, still carving out a lonely path and falling in love on a sadly predictable basis.

My point is; this ability to be so continually overwhelmed by passion and romance is all very predictable and acceptable when one is younger, but my feel is that it's not so attractive the older one gets, nor is it a good barometer as to potential 'marriage-worthiness'.

I'm the first one to say Love is ...NOT about putting the bins out or cleaning the bathroom, but there is a small part of me that takes great solace in the fact I have a man who at least tries(*) to make an effort with all the boring, mundane things that make up life's tapestry.

(*) sometimes, though nowehere near enough as he should