Out with the bad

Out with the bad was Originally Posted on February 9, 2005 by lavarock

Out with the bad and in with the new. They used that expression when trying to revive someone and it has to do with a breath of fresh air. Well, this week two breaths of fresh air were taken.

The first will be detailed here in a day or so. A few of us went up to the summit of Mauna Kea (14,000 feet above sea level), just so that I could take some photos. While 14,000 feet may be a good climb for many, we drove. It only took a couple hours to get to the summit from where we were. There the oxygen is scarcer and you can’t stay there too long without troubles. And TROUBLES we had! But I hate to spoil the story, so stay tuned…

The second breath of fresh air involves my old company, Hewlett Packard. For many years the new CEO, Carly Fiorina has been at the helm and many of us were ready to rename HP the Titanic. Employee morale was at the lowest ever and HP dropped from a revered company that people wanted to join, to a shell of its former self.

The employees and stockholders failed to grasp what she was trying to do, and my guess is that the only way she was able to “make her numbers” was to keep letting people go.

After-hours trading showed the stock up 11%… and I expect the stock to continue to go up until shareholders realize what her severance package will contain…

So HP’ers and shareholders alike, breathe deeply and let the fresh air in!

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A correction to a previous blog: The accounting software I spoke of is at freeaccountingsoftware.net not .com (and I thought I veried each link. Sorry).