Either that or Montreal natives like to vote early and often. I logged in and cast my votes. Once you’re done voting you can choose to see the current standings. Here’s what I saw:

Eastern Conference

Forwards (Top 5)

Alex Kovalev (Canadiens): 249238
Saku Koivu (Canadiens): 246569
Alex Tanguay (Canadiens): 244792
Sidney Crosby (Penguins): 135168
Evgeni Malkin (Penguins): 105335

Defensemen (Top 5)

Andrei markov (Canadiens): 273189
Mike Komisarek (Canadiens): 246837
Mike Green (Capitals): 89898
Zdeno Chara (Bruins): 87658
Sergei Gonchar (Penguins): 64860

Goalies (Top 3)

Carey Price (Canadiens): 266511
Marc-Andre Fleury (Penguins): 74444
Ryan Miller (Sabres): 53795

These numbers seem highly dubious to me.

I’ve worked for a few large companies over the years, and as those of you who also have done so know that most offer a “orientation” or “get to know the company” seminars that you get sent to with all the bells and whistles.

They provide adequate food (sometimes) and a posh hotel conference room where they play upbeat music. They try to make you believe that you will have fun, and learn a lot from the experience. You then proceed to drink 18 cups of coffee every hour to fight off the overwhelming desire to sleep, or crawl under your table and pull your hair out one strand at a time.

Corporate indoctrination experiences are often dull, boring, ineffective, a waste of money, and at best do not engage the new employee enough to garner any real interest.

Well, I just got back from a two day affair (called DaVita Academy) that, far and away, was the most effective event I’ve ever been to. Not just for an orientation seminar, but ANY event. DaVita, if you don’t know the name (and you probably don’t) is a dialysis service company. We have over 1400 clinics across the country in which we provide dialysis treatment and support services to people with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease, or kidney failure).

This company is different - well not different, I dare say it is unique - in how it approaches supporting the people who provide the care to our patients. The support services are myriad, effective, caring, and make a difference in the lives of the patients and the teammates (what we call employees, or staff). I spoke with dozens of people at this event - which was attended by approximately 400 out of our 30,000+ teammates - and from the CEO of the company down to the PTCs (Patient Care Technicians), everyone truly believes our purpose is to provide the best possible care to ESRD patients. It was truly amazing to talk with these people.

As for the seminar, while I found my eyes glazing over several times, I did get an appreciation for the effort that is put forth to make DaVita a fulfilling and fun place to work. The “fun” aspect at Academy was a bit overwhelming. I like to have fun as much as the next person, but it reached a level that was a bit creepy to me. I started looking for the teammates who would be giving us our orange robes and flowers that we should start giving to people at the airport. I like my hair short, but not that short.

However, as with any event like this, as long as you walk in willing to take the experience in the spirit in which it is given, you can leave with some positive ideas. At this company, the people make the difference. The presentations had no impact on what I do, or how I do my job, but meeting the amazing people that work at this company did have an impact.

If anyone has a very positive, or very negative story about corporate indoctrination, I’d love to hear it.

Ok, I’m veering off my usual course of technical issues and sharing with any readers who might find liberty, freedom, and the foundations of America interesting or important.

I rarely share my political views, even to my friends, but I’m an ardent libertarian and a member of the Libertarian Party. To this point, Bob Barr’s presidential campaign has been the most successful third-party campaign in the last 100 years, even more so than Ross Perot. Barr is polling at 9% nationwide and as high as 14% in some states. That’s simply unprecedented and it means that Americans are finally standing up and proclaiming that they are sick and tired of the stranglehold that Republicans and Democrats have on our political process, and the state to which they have led this country.

The Barr ‘08 campaign recently produced a great video, and I promised to share it, so here goes…

External link to video if you are having problems viewing it here.

Proofs of the adage, “truth is stranger than fictiion”….

Town Outlaws Stripperobics
Religious cult irate over magic cracker

And from the world of code, I found this ColdFusion gem the other day. I’m not really sure what this guy was doing.

<cffunction name="getStatuses" access="remote" returntype="query">
	<cfscript>
	qStatuses = QueryNew("");
	QueryAddRow(qStatuses, 1);
	</cfscript>

	<cfquery name="qStatuses" dbtype="query">
		select 'Held' label, 'HELD' data from qStatuses union  all
		select 'Cancelled' label, 'CANCEL' data from qStatuses union all
		select 'Cancel Requested' label, 'CAN-REQ' data from qStatuses union all
		select 'Released' label, 'RELEASED' data from qStatuses union all
		select 'Release Requested' label, 'REL-REQ' data from qStatuses
	</cfquery>

	<cfreturn qStatuses>
</cffunction>

Oh wait, he did it so he could build a Javascript array string… from the query… instead of just… hard-coding it?

<cffunction name="getStatusesJS"  access="remote" returntype="any">
	<cftry>
		<cfset qStatuses = this.getStatuses()>

		<cfset js = "var _statuses = {};">
		<cfoutput query="qStatuses">
			<cfset js = js & "_statuses['#DATA#'] = {label:'#jsstringformat(LABEL)#',data:'#DATA#'};">
		</cfoutput>

		<cfreturn js>
    <cfcatch type="database">
   		<cfrethrow>
    </cfcatch>
    </cftry>
</cffunction>

I suppose it is far more pedestrian and not very “OOPy” to just do…

<cfset jsArray = ArrayNew(1) />
<cfset ArrayAppend(jsArray, "var _statuses = {};") />
<cfset ArrayAppend(jsArray, "_statuses['HELD'] = {label:'Held',data:'HELD'};") />
<cfset ArrayAppend(jsArray, "_statuses['CANCEL'] = {label:'Cancelled',data:'CANCEL'};") />
<cfset ArrayAppend(jsArray, "_statuses['CAN-REQ'] = {label:'Cancel Requested',data:'CAN-REQ'};") />
<cfset ArrayAppend(jsArray, "_statuses['RELEASED'] = {label:'Released',data:'RELEASED'};") />
<cfset ArrayAppend(jsArray, "_statuses['REL-REQ'] = {label:'Release Requested',data:'REL-REQ'};") />
<cfset jsString = ArrayToList(jsArray, " ") />

I’ve always had eclectic tastes in music, which has led to derision from my family and friends over my custom-made CD’s that I play in my car. On a single CD, I can have pop, rock, R&B, rap, jazz and country: whatever tickled my fancy at the time.

While reading the Wikipedia entry for the Beastie Boys the other day, I stumbled across a reference to Mike D’s country album named Country Mike’s Greatest Hits. I was intrigued because the Beasties have been one of my favorite groups over the years (yes I still have the original Licensed To Ill CD that I bought in 1986), so I did some Googling and found that someone had actually made the album available for download.

Obviously, I downloaded it and I have to say I like it. I was expecting a really campy set of songs, and while there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Mike D did a good job producing the songs. I’ve found that good artists simply put out good music, even if they are just screwing around.

In particular, I like the song, “Country Delight”. Have already listened to it about 30 times.