How is it possible for the wind to be blowing directly opposite of the direction I'm biking in no matter what direction I take? Today it's about 50 degrees outside, with nice clear roads and unfuckingbelievable wind. Today I also completely slacked. I went to this conference on managing governance/the G0v3rnmnt P3rf0rm4nce Pr0ject. I was expecting it to be kind of wonky, but still interesting-ish/useful. You know, checking in on how our govts are managed & what people are talking about for future directions in that management.
It was at the Hub3rt Humphr3y 1nst!tute and had Ryb4k (Mpls. m4y0r) and some state senators and some professors and etc. talking about various topics. Well, I get there at about 7:30am (fucking early but a lovely & traffic-free bike ride) armed with H4rd T!mes coffee and look around. I was the youngest person there by at least 20 years and despite having worn my fuckin Expr3ss business slacks and a simple black shirt, I was way underdressed. Old white guys in suits as far as the eye could see. Well, at least up to the donut table. Old man at my table was eating a pastry thing (I hate pastries most of the time) and smacking his lips with every single bite. In some ways this was easier to take than the irregular wet noise eaters that I'm used to. Still man, you're like 70 and you're a business/gov't dude, you'd think you would have learned some fucking table manners by now.
Anyway, so the thing starts and we all move into the C0wles 4udit0rium. I was hoping to get some knitting done but the place was packed so I didn't have enough elbow room to do so. Ryb4k comes on and babbles on about how his main goal this term is to close the inequity gap. That's lovely, but I wonder if he will be effective in doing so, rather than just displacing the unwanteds. Also despite supporting the H0us!ng Tr.ust Fu.nd, he doesn't seem to get that afford4ble housing is NOT fucking 50% of your income or below, it's 30%. He was also assuming all 30% subsidized housing was supportive or transitional housing as well, which it certainly is not. Fucking A, I make about $10,000 a year. Does he want me to spend $5000 on housing and then try to get groceries, utilities, transportation, etc. and thank god I don't have kids and you can forget ever having a good time or getting sick or hurt on just $400 a month?
Did you know the AMI (4verage M3dian 1ncome) for the Twin Cities is $76 THOUSAND dollars per year?? That means half the people in this area are making MORE than that! That's six grand a month. FUCK. Sure, for THOSE people, a 50% housing expense isn't that big a fucking deal. They could spend half their monthly income (three grand) on housing and still have nearly eight times more than I do every month for other expenses.
Anyway. The meeting was so boring I wanted to stab myself just to spice things up. Gop4l Kh4nn4, Ch!ef 1nform4tion 0fficer for the 5tate of MN (aka P4wlenty's office) spent 30 minutes saying his point over and over again: we are focusing on the PROCESS of making I.T. help the govt to be more efficient; we now are very quickly figuring out what our needs are and then installing the technology to deal with those needs rather than spending two years designing tech engineering that is outdated by the time it's finished. How long would that sentence take to say outloud, maybe two minutes. Or seven, if you give an example. This guy is talking about making good use of time while completely wasting it.
Finally break came at 9:45am (which I swear felt like at least 11am by then) and I ditched and went home. Fukkit. I did manage to squeeze in a little networking while smoking before I left, so that's my proof that I went and made good use of my time.
I was supposed to take a nap this afternoon, but I don't really feel like it. What I feel like doing is watching S3x In The C!ty episodes and knitting til my head explodes. Anyway, it's my friend's going away party tonight at Fav Bar #3 and I should probably try to get some rest. I'm planning on working a double tomorrow since I need cash, bad. Fuckin end of the month.