Los Alamos National Laboratory: You know The Real Story. You know The Corporate Story. Now you'll know The Rest of the Story.
Sep 28, 2009
Saturday's UllrFest
It was a perfect day: mountain biking, beer & music.
Oh, and costumes, dancing, food, and more music. Don't know how the LANS shindig went, but those of us who spent the day at Pajarito Ski Hill had a great day.
Frank, it was a saxual experience. Leave it at that.
Blond Viking wenches; red-headed Viking wenches; beer. Makes me kind of glad that I *wasn't* invited the the LANL annual picnic. I saw some of my ex-LANL colleagues there as well who the good judgment to pick the more fun of the two conflicting social opportunities last Saturday.
"anyone catch the fact that the pissmobiles were out in force on Monday??" - 9:33 PM
The piss-mobiles are out in force almost every day. It's especially interesting how they park them in prominent places were they can be seen by everyone who works at the lab. It's Mikey's little gift to the employees of LANL.
"The piss-mobiles are out in force almost every day. It's especially interesting how they park them in prominent places were they can be seen by everyone who works at the lab. It's Mikey's little gift to the employees of LANL.
9/29/09 10:06 PM"
I like the sign that says do not leave vehicles running due to exhaust fumes and there are three pissmobiles with their engines running in that exact spot. I bet the people in the buildings are real high due to the exhaust. I tried to point this out but was called a troublemaker.
There are certain to be more games in the coming weeks than could be found at either event:
- Clicking on the link from the email announcing the Open Enrollment Period for LANL Benefits, one could see yet another unnecessary layer of complexity: 'WINDOWS [of opportunity] for enrollment, by Last Name'. Mind you, there's a note at the bottom that says you don't have to enroll within the "window" specified by your last name but it is recommended in order for employees to assist LANL in keeping the enrollment orderly. I acknowledge that in past years there have been system overload issues because many people have waiting until the last day or two to log in and select their benefit options, but this is ridiculous!
- I have heard that the Smart Cards will all be shut down initially and then those with all their security training completed will be returned to service while those with delinquent security training will not be turned back on until completion of the required training. Any wagers on whether this 'kill-revive' method will have any glitches?
The piss-mobiles are mandated by NNSA. This is a LANS-special, kinda like us being so proactive against those damn FNs who embarass us with all their security infractions.
9/29/09 10:40 AM That pretty lady holding the large beer glass looks like she may need to be piss tested this week.
Looks like Denise Leichty. PF Division Leader. Nice ....
Ah yes, Denise Leichty, another Brett Knapp (Associate God for Weapons) casualty. As soon as Brett arrived at Los Alamos he informed Denise that "he couldn't work with her" and forced her out of the weapons program. Knapp can't work with or tolerate any women or minorities. Good old fashioned bigot. Also, LANS lied (again) about NOT allowing dogs at their picnic this weekend. I heard Mikey had his bulldog Knappy on a short leash with a choke collar and distempered so that he couldn't attack or bite anyone (including the children) at the LANS picnic and face potential litigation. Everything was planned to a tee.
"Piss mobiles" are just another little reminder of how due process is routinely denied DOE/NNSA employees. "Random polygraphs" are another. "At will" employment is another. Flaky benefits from a carefully-contrived Rhode Island LLC called LANS and which can change at a moments notice are another. Getting the picture? It isn't "paranoia" to wonder what the hell has happened to this place. Our country is now in the habit of treating our citizen scientists at National Labs like shit in the name of safety and security. Hecker said it right, "they have become like prisons". Was he just "paranoid"? I think not.
Every LANS employee and retiree must make an active election for BCBS of NM during this fall's Open Enrollment for medical coverage to continue into 2010. Open enrollment will take place November 2 to December 4 for active employees.
Enrollment instructions will be provided online and in the upcoming Employee Guide for Open Enrollment. You will be assigned a specific timeframe in which to enroll: your last name will determine your "window." This will let the Benefits Office track completed enrollments and reach out to those employees who have not participated. We don’t want anyone to unintentionally lose coverage. You may also attend information sessions during October to ensure that all your questions are addressed before the open enrollment period.
Below are important dates to remember. Please attend a Benefits Open Enrollment Information Session to ensure that all questions you may have are addressed prior to the open enrollment period. Your enrollment window in ORACLE Self-Service is opened in phases, alphabetically (by last name). Alphabetical Open Enrollment Windows Your Last Name Enrollment Opens Enrollment Closes A — E November 2nd November 8th F — J November 9th November 15th K — O November 16th November 22nd P — T November 23rd November 29th U — Z November 30th December 4th
Please note: Enrollment is open from November 2nd to December 4th for all employees, but we encourage you to enroll within your assigned window to assist us in monitoring enrollments and avoiding unintentional cancelation of health insurance.
"At Will" is a State driven employment statute that is designed to allow immediate 'separation' in either direction, though it is mostly used to fire people with or without cause. The private sector is traditionally more cold and callous, but it appears the Gov't sector is beginning to 'catch on' to these business tactics quite well. The squeeze of the middle class that began 8 yrs ago (and arguably 16+ yrs ago) has reached the upper middle class highly educated scientific elite @ our national laboratories thanks in great part to the last administration's 'contracting' initiatives that have been designed to suck wealth out of the our tax dollars rather than develop scientific theory or practical scientific application. WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE NEW ORDER..
"As a retiree we just got the information on next year's health insurance premium. Went from $135 a month to $412. That hurts." - 9:44 AM
What's with this? Anyone know what is going on here with retirement medical? That sounds like an enormous increase. Is LANS preparing a stealth plan to jettison retiree medical benefits by jacking up costs to extreme levels?
"As a retiree we just got the information on next year's health insurance premium. Went from $135 a month to $412. That hurts." - 9:44 AM
$412 is the rate for two adults on the "National PPO" plan. It is the most expensive of the three choices available to retirees. EPO is $148; CDHP is $102, for two adults.
12:26 pm: "Sounds like they're trying to price you out of the PPO plan and force you into an inferior EPO plan."
Compare the plan descriptions. The PPO allows more leeway regarding choice of provider (although the coverage is less "out-of-network"). It is a very complex plan and is obviously much more expensive to manage and administer. The EPO plan is not obviously "inferior," especially now that the eligibility rules have been relaxed. If you can live with the restriction to BSBC-contracted providers (a large population nation-wide), it is a simpler, easier plan to administer, therefore cheaper. As with anything else, you get what you pay for. Everyone should do their homework.
The LANS employee survey has now closed. It will be interesting to see the results. Email today from LANL indicated they would be sharing the results with the employees. We shall see...
- "To those employees who have taken the Employee Engagement Survey, thank you! Your input will yield valuable insight and generate constructive dialogue and problem solving that will enable a better work environment. A summary of the survey results will be shared with the Laboratory workforce."
Communications Office Los Alamos National Laborator
Meanwhile, back at the non-profit managed ORNL, where the word "Bechtel-ization" is unknown and the motto "Shoes that GRIP!" has never been seen...
----- Lab Director Says ORNL on the Upswing
By Frank Munger - September 28, 2009 (Knoxville News)
OAK RIDGE - Fiscal 2009 was a good year for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with almost a 30 percent increase in science funding, and ORNL Director Thom Mason said he expects more good things in the budget for fiscal 2010, which begins in October.
On top of that, the Oak Ridge lab is receiving even more stimulus money than expected, Mason said.
"We're now up to about $310 million in Recovery Act funding, and there's still more out there in terms of things that are being competed and I think that will continue to grow some," he said.
Starting your day off with the willies... from the 9/29 ADCLES highlights:
"LANL employee engagement survey ends Sept. 30th: Please take time to respond to the survey. For CLES, 37% of staff have responded so far, and I hope the rest of you will take the opportunity to make your voice heard as well."
And we'll begin rounding up even more cowboys and buttheads as LANL's FDE software starts reporting to our lab servers on employee laptop usage. Prisoners in Sig Hecker's lab "prison" don't get any anonymous privacy rights... suckas!
Where are all the pictures from Saturday's LANS Love Fest? Why haven't they posted any of them on the LANL internal web page yet?
Because as someone else here already commented, you have to make this unique body-mind experience by yourself. It cannot be told or shown in mundane pictures. Otherwise you wouldn't understand.
"you have to make this unique body-mind experience by yourself"
You make it sound like some wild, drug crazed party where a fuzzy Ewok character comes out of the smokey haze, looks you directly in the eyes and hands out a steaming, hot weenie telling people... "Here, eat this blessed food my son! Be one with the LANS!"
Leichty is worse than Knapp. She has Tom Locke and Staff Relations on speed dial so she can get rid of everybody that makes a mistake or disagrees with her. All of the division secreteries have quit and most of the managers too. she killed the machinist apprentice program and now everyone is worried that the rest of machinists will be gone soon too.
"Doug, Frank, where are you? If there was ever a "too drunk to post" or just too stupid and profane, this is it. Come on, guys - the world deserves berrer than this."
10:37,
I was out playing music, myself. But I agree, the world deserves berrer. Or better. Whichever.
I must confess, though, it is becoming harder to distinguish between what is an acceptable level of festering pustulence which should be allowed to spew forth here on the blog, versus what would be an *unacceptable* level of pustulence.
I mean really: we've seen it all here: homophobia, homophilia, racism, profanity, religious bigotry, cowardly backstabbings, narcissistic ramblings; you name it.
Occasionally there is a welcome nugget of perceptiveness or intelligent insight but those seem to come fewer and farther between.
So, you probably deserve better, but until you start supplying it, you're probably not going to get it.
"But I agree, the world deserves berrer. Or better."
Doug, 10/5 10:37 pm here.
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the typo. At mid-range, my eyes aren't too good at picking out that kind of error, especially with adjacent keys and serif font. New glasses haven't helped. Oh well...However, your point is well taken and I don't envy your task. Are you saying that there are periods when comments are just passed through, instead of waiting for your/Frank's approval?
I don't know what the "rules" should be, but it is obvious (at least to me) that some level of crudeness is just too much for most people to take. I'd encourage you to be more willing to accept complaints about too little crudeness than about too much.
Fortunately, I only need to read music with one of the bands I play in -- I understand the glasses issue.
As a reminder, this is Frank's blog, not mine. I'm just helping out here.
As a historical reminder, when I ran my original LANL blog I was much more judgmental about what comments got posted than Frank is. There's good, and there's bad in that.
The bottom line here is that Frank makes the final call on questionable comments and whether or not they should be accepted.
Unless I raise a fuss and override him. I don't believe that has ever happened, though.
Boy, that looks a whole lot more fun than having Mikey hand me a weenie.
ReplyDeleteNot a single manager attended the UllrFest - all were busy sucking Mikey's weenie.
ReplyDeleteWho is that guy with the sax? He looks like trouble.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to be a bit more specific, Frank. There was a guy with shorts, a hat, and a *silver* sax, and a guy with shorts, a hat, and a *gold* sax.
ReplyDeleteThey both looked a bit troublesome.
Frank, it was a saxual experience. Leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteBlond Viking wenches; red-headed Viking wenches; beer. Makes me kind of glad that I *wasn't* invited the the LANL annual picnic. I saw some of my ex-LANL colleagues there as well who the good judgment to pick the more fun of the two conflicting social opportunities last Saturday.
Did anyone go to the LANS blowfest?
ReplyDeleteSo to sum up, Thor is great, beer is good, and people are crazy?
ReplyDelete"Not a single manager attended the UllrFest"
ReplyDeleteReally? And you would know because you personally screened every attendee at UllrFest?
Nice pictures. Can't wait to see the pictures from the LANS fun fest on the lab's internal web pages.
ReplyDeleteThe ugly guy playing the sax - you need to wear long pants cuz you got ugly legs too.
ReplyDeleteThat pretty lady holding the large beer glass looks like she may need to be piss tested this week.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, 10:07. I thought both sax players were *hot*!
ReplyDelete9/29/09 10:40 AM
ReplyDeleteThat pretty lady holding the large beer glass looks like she may need to be piss tested this week.
Looks like Denise Leichty. PF Division Leader. Nice ....
anyone catch the fact that the pissmobiles were out in force on Monday??
ReplyDelete"anyone catch the fact that the pissmobiles were out in force on Monday??" - 9:33 PM
ReplyDeleteThe piss-mobiles are out in force almost every day. It's especially interesting how they park them in prominent places were they can be seen by everyone who works at the lab. It's Mikey's little gift to the employees of LANL.
9:33 pm: "anyone catch the fact that the pissmobiles were out in force on Monday??"
ReplyDeleteOh come on - the schedule is printed out each morning from a random system. As NNSA mandates. A litlle paranoid, are we?
"The piss-mobiles are out in force almost every day. It's especially interesting how they park them in prominent places were they can be seen by everyone who works at the lab. It's Mikey's little gift to the employees of LANL.
ReplyDelete9/29/09 10:06 PM"
I like the sign that says do not leave vehicles running due to exhaust fumes and there are three pissmobiles with their engines running in that exact spot. I bet the people in the buildings are real high due to the exhaust. I tried to point this out but was called a troublemaker.
There are certain to be more games in the coming weeks than could be found at either event:
ReplyDelete- Clicking on the link from the email announcing the Open Enrollment Period for LANL Benefits, one could see yet another unnecessary layer of complexity: 'WINDOWS [of opportunity] for enrollment, by Last Name'. Mind you, there's a note at the bottom that says you don't have to enroll within the "window" specified by your last name but it is recommended in order for employees to assist LANL in keeping the enrollment orderly. I acknowledge that in past years there have been system overload issues because many people have waiting until the last day or two to log in and select their benefit options, but this is ridiculous!
- I have heard that the Smart Cards will all be shut down initially and then those with all their security training completed will be returned to service while those with delinquent security training will not be turned back on until completion of the required training. Any wagers on whether this 'kill-revive' method will have any glitches?
The piss-mobiles are mandated by NNSA. This is a LANS-special, kinda like us being so proactive against those damn FNs who embarass us with all their security infractions.
ReplyDelete9/29/09 10:40 AM
ReplyDeleteThat pretty lady holding the large beer glass looks like she may need to be piss tested this week.
Looks like Denise Leichty. PF Division Leader. Nice ....
Ah yes, Denise Leichty, another Brett Knapp (Associate God for Weapons) casualty. As soon as Brett arrived at Los Alamos he informed Denise that "he couldn't work with her" and forced her out of the weapons program. Knapp can't work with or tolerate any women or minorities. Good old fashioned bigot. Also, LANS lied (again) about NOT allowing dogs at their picnic this weekend. I heard Mikey had his bulldog Knappy on a short leash with a choke collar and distempered so that he couldn't attack or bite anyone (including the children) at the LANS picnic and face potential litigation. Everything was planned to a tee.
"Piss mobiles" are just another little reminder of how due process is routinely denied DOE/NNSA employees. "Random polygraphs" are another. "At will" employment is another. Flaky benefits from a carefully-contrived Rhode Island LLC called LANS and which can change at a moments notice are another. Getting the picture? It isn't "paranoia" to wonder what the hell has happened to this place. Our country is now in the habit of treating our citizen scientists at National Labs like shit in the name of safety and security. Hecker said it right, "they have become like prisons". Was he just "paranoid"? I think not.
ReplyDeleteActive Employees 2010 Open Enrollment
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lanl.gov/worklife/benefits/open/index.shtml
Excerpt:
Every LANS employee and retiree must make an active election for BCBS of NM during this fall's Open Enrollment for medical coverage to continue into 2010. Open enrollment will take place November 2 to December 4 for active employees.
Enrollment instructions will be provided online and in the upcoming Employee Guide for Open Enrollment. You will be assigned a specific timeframe in which to enroll: your last name will determine your "window." This will let the Benefits Office track completed enrollments and reach out to those employees who have not participated. We don’t want anyone to unintentionally lose coverage. You may also attend information sessions during October to ensure that all your questions are addressed before the open enrollment period.
Open Enrollment Windows
http://www.lanl.gov/worklife/benefits/open/windows.shtml
Below are important dates to remember. Please attend a Benefits Open Enrollment Information Session to ensure that all questions you may have are addressed prior to the open enrollment period. Your enrollment window in ORACLE Self-Service is opened in phases, alphabetically (by last name).
Alphabetical Open Enrollment Windows
Your Last Name Enrollment Opens Enrollment Closes
A — E November 2nd November 8th
F — J November 9th November 15th
K — O November 16th November 22nd
P — T November 23rd November 29th
U — Z November 30th December 4th
Please note: Enrollment is open from November 2nd to December 4th for all employees, but we encourage you to enroll within your assigned window to assist us in monitoring enrollments and avoiding unintentional cancelation of health insurance.
OK I give up. How do you start another thread?
ReplyDeleteAs a retiree we just got the information on next year's health insurance premium. Went from $135 a month to $412. That hurts.
"OK I give up. How do you start another thread?"
ReplyDeleteYou politely ask one of the blog moderators.
"At Will" is a State driven employment statute that is designed to allow immediate 'separation' in either direction, though it is mostly used to fire people with or without cause. The private sector is traditionally more cold and callous, but it appears the Gov't sector is beginning to 'catch on' to these business tactics quite well. The squeeze of the middle class that began 8 yrs ago (and arguably 16+ yrs ago) has reached the upper middle class highly educated scientific elite @ our national laboratories thanks in great part to the last administration's 'contracting' initiatives that have been designed to suck wealth out of the our tax dollars rather than develop scientific theory or practical scientific application. WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE NEW ORDER..
ReplyDelete"As a retiree we just got the information on next year's health insurance premium. Went from $135 a month to $412. That hurts." - 9:44 AM
ReplyDeleteWhat's with this? Anyone know what is going on here with retirement medical? That sounds like an enormous increase. Is LANS preparing a stealth plan to jettison retiree medical benefits by jacking up costs to extreme levels?
"As a retiree we just got the information on next year's health insurance premium. Went from $135 a month to $412. That hurts." - 9:44 AM
ReplyDelete$412 is the rate for two adults on the "National PPO" plan. It is the most expensive of the three choices available to retirees. EPO is $148; CDHP is $102, for two adults.
It must feel nice to be a pompous ass like Anastasio who tells his manager minions: "Only bring me good news!"
ReplyDeleteI hope the LANS engagement survey finally allows some REAL news to filter in to his thick fuzzy skull!
Sounds like they're trying to price you out of the PPO plan and force you into an inferior EPO plan. Probably saves them money somehow.
ReplyDelete12:26 pm: "Sounds like they're trying to price you out of the PPO plan and force you into an inferior EPO plan."
ReplyDeleteCompare the plan descriptions. The PPO allows more leeway regarding choice of provider (although the coverage is less "out-of-network"). It is a very complex plan and is obviously much more expensive to manage and administer. The EPO plan is not obviously "inferior," especially now that the eligibility rules have been relaxed. If you can live with the restriction to BSBC-contracted providers (a large population nation-wide), it is a simpler, easier plan to administer, therefore cheaper. As with anything else, you get what you pay for. Everyone should do their homework.
The LANS employee survey has now closed. It will be interesting to see the results. Email today from LANL indicated they would be sharing the results with the employees. We shall see...
ReplyDelete-
"To those employees who have taken the Employee Engagement Survey, thank you! Your input will yield valuable insight and generate constructive dialogue and problem solving that will enable a better work environment. A summary of the survey results will be shared with the Laboratory workforce."
Communications Office
Los Alamos National Laborator
Meanwhile, back at the non-profit managed ORNL, where the word "Bechtel-ization" is unknown and the motto "Shoes that GRIP!" has never been seen...
ReplyDelete-----
Lab Director Says ORNL on the Upswing
By Frank Munger - September 28, 2009 (Knoxville News)
OAK RIDGE - Fiscal 2009 was a good year for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with almost a 30 percent increase in science funding, and ORNL Director Thom Mason said he expects more good things in the budget for fiscal 2010, which begins in October.
On top of that, the Oak Ridge lab is receiving even more stimulus money than expected, Mason said.
"We're now up to about $310 million in Recovery Act funding, and there's still more out there in terms of things that are being competed and I think that will continue to grow some," he said.
Starting your day off with the willies... from the 9/29 ADCLES highlights:
ReplyDelete"LANL employee engagement survey ends Sept. 30th: Please take time to respond to the survey.
For CLES, 37% of staff have responded so far, and I hope the rest of you will take the opportunity to make your voice heard as well."
Oh, but it's anonymous. Trust us!
The survey data hasn't even been analyzed by the company LANS hired, NBI, yet LANS already knows that 37% of CLES has responded? WTF?(!!!)
ReplyDeleteYes, this is very creepy, 7:12 AM.
GOTCHA!!!
ReplyDelete- Mikey
And we'll begin rounding up even more cowboys and buttheads as LANL's FDE software starts reporting to our lab servers on employee laptop usage. Prisoners in Sig Hecker's lab "prison" don't get any anonymous privacy rights... suckas!
ReplyDelete- Mikey
More good news regarding the new medical plan. Presbyterian Medical Group does not accept BCBS of NM insurance.
ReplyDeleteSo everyone both retired and active will have to change doctors, hospitals etc. if they are currently using Presbyterian.
Presbyterian is the premier health care service in Albuquerque everything else is definitely second rate.
11:18 am: "So everyone both retired and active will have to change doctors, hospitals etc. if they are currently using Presbyterian."
ReplyDeleteNo, they just need to choose the PPO plan and pay the difference in coverage. Make a choice and live with it.
Where are all the pictures from Saturday's LANS Love Fest? Why haven't they posted any of them on the LANL internal web page yet?
ReplyDeleteWhere are all the pictures from Saturday's LANS Love Fest? Why haven't they posted any of them on the LANL internal web page yet?
ReplyDeleteBecause as someone else here already commented, you have to make this unique body-mind experience by yourself. It cannot be told or shown in mundane pictures. Otherwise you wouldn't understand.
"you have to make this unique body-mind experience by yourself"
ReplyDeleteYou make it sound like some wild, drug crazed party where a fuzzy Ewok character comes out of the smokey haze, looks you directly in the eyes and hands out a steaming, hot weenie telling people... "Here, eat this blessed food my son! Be one with the LANS!"
Mike has been pushing boners on Los Alamos for decades.
ReplyDeleteLeichty is worse than Knapp. She has Tom Locke and Staff Relations on speed dial so she can get rid of everybody that makes a mistake or disagrees with her. All of the division secreteries have quit and most of the managers too. she killed the machinist apprentice program and now everyone is worried that the rest of machinists will be gone soon too.
ReplyDeleteSandia National Lab is closing their main machine shop. PF is keeping the main shop open at LANL, but its a struggle.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, Denise is an amateur compared to Bret the Hun Knapp. The man is a monster.
ReplyDelete"Doug, Frank, where are you? If there was ever a "too drunk to post" or just too stupid and profane, this is it. Come on, guys - the world deserves berrer than this."
ReplyDelete10:37,
I was out playing music, myself. But I agree, the world deserves berrer. Or better. Whichever.
I must confess, though, it is becoming harder to distinguish between what is an acceptable level of festering pustulence which should be allowed to spew forth here on the blog, versus what would be an *unacceptable* level of pustulence.
I mean really: we've seen it all here: homophobia, homophilia, racism, profanity, religious bigotry, cowardly backstabbings, narcissistic ramblings; you name it.
Occasionally there is a welcome nugget of perceptiveness or intelligent insight but those seem to come fewer and farther between.
So, you probably deserve better, but until you start supplying it, you're probably not going to get it.
"But I agree, the world deserves berrer. Or better."
ReplyDeleteDoug, 10/5 10:37 pm here.
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for the typo. At mid-range, my eyes aren't too good at picking out that kind of error, especially with adjacent keys and serif font. New glasses haven't helped. Oh well...However, your point is well taken and I don't envy your task. Are you saying that there are periods when comments are just passed through, instead of waiting for your/Frank's approval?
I don't know what the "rules" should be, but it is obvious (at least to me) that some level of crudeness is just too much for most people to take. I'd encourage you to be more willing to accept complaints about too little crudeness than about too much.
Hi, 8:23.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I only need to read music with one of the bands I play in -- I understand the glasses issue.
As a reminder, this is Frank's blog, not mine. I'm just helping out here.
As a historical reminder, when I ran my original LANL blog I was much more judgmental about what comments got posted than Frank is. There's good, and there's bad in that.
The bottom line here is that Frank makes the final call on questionable comments and whether or not they should be accepted.
Unless I raise a fuss and override him. I don't believe that has ever happened, though.