"John," I told him over and over again, "That Scientology stuff is just wacky. What good is a religion based entirely on the overuse of paprika?" [see figure 1]My opinions have often gotten me in trouble, almost as much as my associations. My unwillingness to bow to corruption, greed, and incompetence has cost me at least one gig. And voicing the things others are too afraid to voice has blacklisted me from more than one lesbian wine tasting event (I swear, girls, I thought it was common knowledge. Everyone had been saying it!).
But, upon reflection, would I do things differently?
Hmm. Unlikely.
As my year long period of corporate imprisonment comes to an end (read: noncompete clause), I can finally return to being an annoyance to state vendors who aren't me. VITA now lists me in their resource guide for the Web Standard (Did I mention I wrote the first two drafts?) , my business is an official SWAM business, and I'm listed in the eVA procurement thingamajig.
Now if only I can figure out a way to get everyone at my former job to go ahead and drink their cool aide like good little cultists and get ready for the comet, then the path up the mountain will be clear.
Hear me? I'm coming. And, unless something distracts me, like a computer game or a brightly colored piece of cloth, I'm going to roll over you (generic) drunken llamas like Hannibal through Burbank. Or words to that effect.
Speaking of standards, I've been working on an article on usability and government web sites. So far I've contacted about 15 state government sites. About 6 of them are managed by NIC Inc, including Virginia.gov, who recently put out a press release regarding all the research they did to improve their portal. "Perfect!" I thought, "Just what I need!" So I contacted the press contact associated with the press release and asked to see the data. Her response was to contact Virginia Interactive (an NIC Inc company) for the information.
Several weeks have passed. My deadline looms. And Virginia.gov hasn't even been polite enough to tell me to go to hell. To date, no NIC run state portal has been willing to produce any data to back up their claims of improved web usability. Nothing. Not a word.
I'm doing my best to write an unbiased article. But with my former alma mater hiding under their respective rocks, what choice do I have? If you didn't have the data, don't say you do in a press release! That's covered in Basic Lying 101!
Mark Twain said it best, "If you don't lie, you don't have to worry about remembering what you said."Maybe I'm just miffed that corporate laziness and greed are making it difficult for me to make my $400. Maybe I'm just tired of being lied to by people who are supported by my tax dollars, but are somehow above the laws that govern the rest of us. And maybe it's just time to stop getting angry and start demanding accountability.
I'm sure I had a point when I began this tirade, but it has escaped me for the moment.
