Too Tired to Write Amdist the Decay…
Is it just me, or does it seem like the world falling apart around us? I don’t think I’ve stayed in a hotel in the past two years that didn’t have two or three things broken in the room. The government building I work in is falling apart. Bridges are collapsing all over. Metro in Washington DC has had more track fires and train wrecks because of deteriorating infrastructure than ever before. Sidewalks are cracked, door handles are broken…what’s with all the decay?
My workplace is crumbling. Can’t drive up on the parking deck because the ramp is undergoing maintenance. Can’t walk up the steps because they are being repaired. The door handles are broken. The carpet is frayed. The cafeteria ran out of bagels, and coffee, and napkins, and cup lids and courtesy. Don’t get me started on the IT infrastructure or more importantly, the hideous state thereof.
I’m sure that someone out there has a theory on the entropic nature of the universe…but why does it have to start on the roads I drive upon, the building I work in and the places I frequent? Too tired to post tonight. Wait. I just did. They say that memory is the second thing to go…
January 10th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Wow, your IT has an infrastructure, lucky. I submit you had a victory day - you made it home on a rainy night with DC traffic. Hugged your kids and wife and went to bed.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Dude, your first posting as an officer was where?
It took how many maintenance types to keep Delta battery working? Well, guess what, no one pays for maintenance types any more.
In the case of government/military types, well, maintenance budgets are always the first to get cut. By both sides, regardless. Witness the F-15 fleet grounding, just to mention what is currently in the news. Maintenance, spare parts and logistics aren’t sexy. Congress doesn’t pay for non-sexy military parts. If a congress critter is given the choice between paying to keep 10 old things working or buying 2 new things , well, hope and pray your field troops can keep the old ones working until the new ones get there on spit and duct tape, because were getting the new ones, and we are paying for it with the savings from not needing to buy spare parts. Opps, the new ones don’t test well, so we aren’t getting them. Why don’t the old ones work any more? You mean we have to pay for spare parts and people that know where to put them? Not that I’m bitter or any thing.
In business, if your not a profit center your up for the chopping block come the first thing that looks like a down turn in the bottom line.
January 11th, 2008 at 8:40 am
No one wants to fix anything until it’s good and broken. Otherwise it might have had some time left in it, and then that’s a waste of money, right? Or something…
Not to mention the fact that it’s just time for a lot of things. So many major manufactured things (modern buildings, bridges, etc.) came about recently enough that it’s just time for the first major round of decay. These things have lasted all our lives, so no one thinks about the fact that they might start breaking down.
Then there’s the budget cuts, and the thousand and one different things everyone wants to fund… no easy answers.