The Word of the Day

1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

Tomorrow I have to fly to Vernon for the first round of meetings for the second integration project this year now that the company that bought the company I worked for has been, in turn, bought. I've worked for three companies this year without to much as emptying my recycling bin. I'm what's being recycled, twice this year.

I'm just thrilled about this for a variety of reasons. The last merger had me spending the bulk of this year stressed-out and trying to meet next to impossible deadlines for projects that are now dead. For example, a company that no longer exists doesn't need a shiny, new website. Nine months of eating TUMS like candy for nothing. Things were just getting to the point where they were under control and now I get to do it all over again... if I keep my job that is. The new company just migrated away from Lotus Notes, my specialty, earlier this year, mostly because they couldn't get competent staff in Vernon. Now I need to work with a guy who puts ", MCSE" after his name like it's a fucking Ph.D. to jury-rig some interoperability until one of us wins the pissing contest over which groupware system wins the day... oops, I mean, "until we identify synergies". The "Integration Strategy" document has the word "synergies" in it like Anne Rice uses "preternatural" - nearly every damn paragraph. To add insult to injury, I have to be at the airport at six o'clock in the morning, which I have no problem pulling off when I'm heading somewhere interesting like New York, but Vernon? Last time I was in Vernon was fifteen years ago for basic training. My "fond" memories of the place involve cleaning toilets, a lot of push-ups, getting yelled at a lot, passing out from exhaustion after shlepping a 50 Kg field radio 10 Km over a mountiain in 40 °C heat, and other fun stuff.

Have I conveyed my general annoyance sufficiently? I'm not looking forward to another year of cramming round pegs in square holes under "ambitious" (i.e. impossible) deadlines.