Don’t give this guy your password.

There was an article posted today, November 30, 2009, in the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Stimulus grant for Calif jobless system questioned is the title of this article.

It seems that the state of California was given $60 million dollars of Stimulus money to improve it’s computer system. Why?

* “The state handles about 13 percent of the nation’s unemployment claims but processes benefits on a computer system built during the 1980s based on 1970s technology. The state should have completed an upgrade last year using federal unemployment money it received seven years ago, with the new system already in operation.”

This means that the state of California is handling all of it’s Unemployment Insurance stuff on computers that were made back when Madonna was making videos that were being played daily on MTV. The state of California computers are using technology that was designed when America had either Nixon, Ford, or Carter as it’s President. Hmm…. I think I see the problem here.

California was given money a while back to upgrade it’s computers, and it didn’t use it to upgrade it’s computers. It was given Stimulus money recently to upgrade it’s computers, and it didn’t use the money for that either. Somehow, this is ok with the government.

* “Despite the lag, the U.S. Department of Labor has found no fault in how California used the previous allocation because the program was designed to give states flexibility. They could use the money as they saw fit.”

Wonderful. The Department of Labor isn’t intending to fine the state of California for not using the money as it was supposed to be used, either. Why?

* “The Labor Department said it was more concerned that new stimulus funding is used in a way that will allow more workers to qualify for unemployment assistance.”

Well, ok. I suppose that allowing more people to get their Unemployment Insurance benefits would be more important than upgrading the computers right this minute. This is epecially true considering the extremely high number of unemployed people right now, here, in the state of California. I understand that it’s more important to make sure people can still buy groceries, and (hopefully) pay their mortgages than it is to upgrade a computer system right now.

But…. why on earth didn’t the state of California upgrade it’s computer system the first time it was given money to do it? This is a mystery to me. Perhaps if they used that money for what it was intended for, the first time it was given, we wouldn’t have this mess right now.

You can apply for Unemployment Insurance online, but that is pretty much all you can do. Everything else is done on paper, passed through the hands of workers, and sent out through the US Mail. Need to fill out a continued claim form? Wait for it to get to you through “snail mail”, fill it out by hand, and then send it right back through “snail mail”, and wait for a EDD worker to find it, open it, and process it. Then, wait some more for the EDD worker to send your next continued claim form through the US Mail, and the process starts over again. Want your Unemployment Insurance check? Wait around for the EDD workers to send it through the US Mail too. Oh, and I almost forgot, you have to wait around for that “Telephone Interview” before they do anything else. This is why everything is taking so long!

Nothing, except the initial signing up for Unemployment Insurance, is done online. We, the unemployed, cannot log in and receive our continued claim forms online. Therefore, we cannot fill them in online. Therefore, we are all attempting to send the physical paper forms back to the EDD through the US Mail on Sundays.

We are standing by our mailboxes, waiting for the Postman to arrive, so we can get our Unemployment Insurance checks, which we then have to run to the bank. The US Mail vehicle that services where I live arrives sometime between two and four in the afternoon. Let’s say the EDD check arrives on a Monday. If I immediately jump in my car and drive like a mad woman to my bank, I might, if I’m lucky, get that check into my bank account that same day. But, due to the time of day when it gets there, the bank is probably not going to include that money as part of my account until Tuesday. If the state of California upgraded it’s computer systems when it was supposed to, we, the unemployed, would be getting our Unemployment Insurance checks by direct deposit, which is much faster and more efficient.

Wonder why it takes so long to get through to the EDD by telephone? Assuming, of course, you manage to get through to an actual person AT ALL! It’s because the state of California didn’t use the money it was given to upgrade the computer and phone system to…. upgrade it’s computers and phones.

* “One upgrade would have better matched staffing levels with call volumes on the government’s unemployment help line. The other was to improve a payment system so claimants can certify their eligibility over the phone or Internet.”

Where did this money go instead? I really don’t know.

Of course, the state of California cannot simply drop everything right now, bring it all to a screeching halt, and upgrade their computer systems. That would make things even worse than they are now! Apparently there are plans to make these upgrades “in the future”. I’ll believe it when I see it.

And now is pretty bad. What kind of computers is the state of California using to handle it’s Unemployment Insurance benefits, you wonder?

* “State officials plan to use $20 million to overhaul the state’s unemployment database, which runs on computers that display a black screen and fit just 30 lines of text. That conversion is expected to take 1 1/2 years.”

Black screens that fit 30 lines of text? I’m old enough to remember computers like those, with the little rectangular blinking cursor that was either in green or orange. This is frightening. Ever seen the movie War Games ? “Shall we play a game?” THAT is the type of computers the state of California thinks it is a good idea to use to handle Unemployment Insurance claims! We’re talking floppy disks here, people! This is eons before Windows even existed. This is only a small step up from backing things up on tape, and entering data on punch cards.

Here’s a little visual of the type of computers that would have “30 lines of text”:

Yeah, I think I can see the problem, very clearly.

Inside My Head Podcast number 3.30 for NaPodPoMo 2009.

Last one for this year’s NaPodPoMo experience!
In today’s show, I talk a little about what I think about this year’s NaPodPoMo experience, figure out if I want to do it again next year, and give you a few clues about what to expect next from Inside My Head

I play a song by Todd Chappelle, called “Google”.

I end the show with a song by Sublunar Minds, with a song called “I Will See You Again”.

See y’all real soon!

Inside My Head number 3.29 for NaPodPoMo 2009.

We put up the Christmas tree today, and it’s got me thinking about things. Will I like Christmas this year, now that I’m not working in “Retail Hell”?

I play two songs by A Band Called Quinn . The first one is called “Lumen De Lumine”, which is from their Christmas album released last year. The second one is a remix of their song called “It’s Christmas Time”, which was also released last year on their Christmas album. It is remixed by Celebrity Murder Party, and it rocks!

Enjoy

I talk about stuff. See the tags for more information.

Inside My Head number 3.28 for NaPodPoMo 2009.

Today’s show contains all of the Haiku of Frustration that were created for the NaPodPoMo experience in 2008. I’ve been wanting to put them together for quite some time now, and today, it all came together.

As a result, I have created a “Time Capsule” of sorts, that emphasizes some very striking differences between what my life was like last November, and what it is like this November. Things are so much better now!

Enjoy some very rant-y Haiku of Frustration from last year.

Inside My Head Podcast number 3.27 for NaPodPoMo 2009.

This is the first “holiday season” in at least four or five years where I am NOT stuck working as a wage slave in “retail hell”. Usually, I have been stuck working today, the worst day of the year to be a wage slave, the infamous Black Friday. It’s quite nice to NOT be in retail hell this year.

I talk about the differences I’ve noticed in my life between this year and last year at this time. It was easy to spot the differences, once Shawn and I ventured into “The Evil Bookstore” to do a little bit of Christmas shopping.

That was the inspiration for a short rant, and, Today’s Haiku of Frustration. It’s called “Bad Vibes”.

I played a song by Universal Poplab, with a song called “I Could Say I’m Sorry”.

This book was published in 1971 and it was amazing to me that the prologue was set in Northern Iraq.  In the prologue a priest who is along for an archaeological dig  gets his first encounter with the ancient demon that plays a bigger role at the heart of the story.  The book is about a famous movie actress Chris McNeil who lives in the Georgetown area of Washington D.C.  She has a pre-teen daughter named Reagan.  Other people in the house include Sharon, the tutor and Chris’ secretary, and Carl and Willie, husband and wife servants from Switzerland.

Reagan starts to be visited by what Chris thinks is an imaginary friend named Captain Howdy. It starts innocently enough through the Oija Board, but soon Reagan becomes inhabited with the demon. She begins shouting obscenities, shaking the bed in convulsions and then wetting it and exhibiting multiple personalities.  This is where the book becomes both very interesting and ultimately frustrating.  Chris starts taking her to the family doctor. The doctor is convinced she doesn’t need psychiatric help, that what is wrong is a physical condition with the body.  They do all of these tests on her, give her Ritalin, and theorize that she may have Frontal Lobe disorder in her brain.  When all of the tests come up negative, the doctor has to concede and refer her to a psychiatrist.  They can’t do anything either except give her Librium to try to calm her down.

One evening Chris has a dinner party and meets Father Carris for the first time.  He is a Jesuit priest and a specialist in psychiatry and eventually becomes involved in the Reagan case.  Also in the meantime a movie director friend of Chris’ is found dead outside her home and a detective begins coming around asking questions.  Reagan has deteriorated to the point of being strapped down to the bad and is visited by many demonic personalities and can speak in many different languages.  By this time the book starts to become a little frustrating because I’m saying “Do the exorcism already!” Father Carris want to make absolutely sure Reagan is possessed before he gets permission from the church for the exorcism.

It is an interesting book from a psychological/psychiatric perspective and how all of these doctors try to rule out every kind of mental disorder. There is also some interesting exposition about the history of satanism, possession, and exorcism.   The demonic scenes are kind of fun to read also and how the demon tries to trick and cajole Father Carris.  I listened to the audio book and it was narrated very well by the author. He had some great accents for some of these characters where it really did play like a movie in your mind.  The characters are well developed enough that the reader can identify with them.

WoW does it’s own version of Thanksgiving.

If you play a rogue, you might get turned into a turkey:

Turkeys can’t fly.

But, it seems they can ride horses:

Just a Turkey, and Mr. T. (Night Elf Mohawk) eating dinner:

Nothing to see there!

Inside My Head Podcast number 3.26 for NaPodPoMo 2009.

This is part two of a show that is split between Shawnogram and Inside My Head. You should go over there and listen to the first part first, and then come back here for the second part. Well, I suppose you could listen to them backwards, but, that won’t sound as good.