Tales from the Steppes

2005-10-27

4:26 p.m.
Thursday, October 27

So I am killing a bit o' time here, waiting for my items to come up at the Planning Board. Disco Dean was able to get his plan finished and in to me, so I am not going to look like a complete goob. Of course, the fact that I wrote a staff report with different data in it is a bit problematic but I am hoping that the Planning Board has not actually read it. It has all worked out ok on my end; I am just hopeful that all will go ok.

Of course, Dean kicked things off by coming back directly to my desk. Again. I need to communicate that his behaviour is faulty to him in a way that is slightly scary or memorable to him because he cannot seem to get the message. As a followup, he then stood out in the lobby, badmouthing the neighbors that have hired a lawyer to fight this development, without realizing that the neighbors were sitting right there. The man is a walking train wreck.

I am extremely fortunate that public speaking does not actually bother me. I would rather address an audience of 200 than strike up a conversation with 2 strangers. I am generally ok as long as I know what I am talking about. If I am clueless, then no thank you. Intellectual incompetance in public is a nadir I have yet to experience but it is not an exaggeration to say that I would rather break an arm than be unprepared for a presentation. For me, being prepared has nothing to do with having notecards ready or speeches written. My years of doing model United Nations and being a member of the Demosthenian Society have allowed me to be comfortable with extemporaneous speaking. I would actually have problems preparing a speach and then actually following it.

I am listening to a speaker right now and when you actually parse what he is saying, it ends up to be a handful of smoke. I am sure that every field has it's BS factor. In my profession, a sure tipoff you are listening to a load of crap is when you hear these words all in one speach - "implementation", "visioning", "solutions", "design standards", "enable", "empower", "resource allocation", "partnerships", "iteration". Alone, those words are ok - together, they make for meaningless talk.