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Post by funkyodar on Apr 3, 2014 9:19:23 GMT -5
Yesterday I touched base with an old colleague I intend to use asa reference. The guy played a short stent in the NFL (not using him for that experience, post his brief time in the league he put together a pretty impressive resume). In talking with him, I had to explain the process. He mentioned it sounded a lot like the nfl draft. I think I posted my own draft comparison in my first few posts as a board member. But after talking with him, I thought it'd be fun to flesh it out further.
Thousands of eligibles apply for a preliminary draft grade.
Some, by nature of the school they attended (insider status) or past performance (vets) are perceived to have an advantage but no one really knows.
Most that apply are told they have no chance. But a select few are invited to the combine (testing). There, they undergo objective measurable testing and interviews and they can be made of broken by their perfromance.
People spend hours online trying to figure what teams will draft and what chances a particular player has.
In the end, a very small number will get a call. Many will wait for one ane never get it and never be told why. The ones that get a call may be surprised at what team (city) they go to but will just be happy to be in the game.
As another analogy, a friend told me the board had started to remind him of the "Walking Dead." All started out together en mass just hoping to survive. Some are picked off each episode and are never seen again. Some get killed but still have a board presence awaiting a cure (appeal) or that finally sharp shovel handle to the brain. Meanwhile the tension grows among the survivors and we all know more will get killed before the luckiest few reach safety.
What's your best analogy? Let's kill some time with lighthearted banter.
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Post by agilitymom on Apr 3, 2014 9:26:54 GMT -5
Can't beat the Walking Dead analogy!
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Post by Ace Midnight on Apr 3, 2014 9:32:58 GMT -5
To keep with the zombie theme - Dawn of the Dead - we're all at the mall, trying to stay alive.
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Post by moopigsdad on Apr 3, 2014 9:42:22 GMT -5
I don't think there is an exact analogy for this process. Funky has named some as well as ace, but the whole process is so mind-bending and unreal that to explain it to someone not involved takes a long time. I am sure there are some analogies like the "NFL Draft" and "Walking Dead" that work to some extent, but it only gives you a taste of the real draining nature of the process and disappointment along the way for those not moving on. It is "Matrix" like in its mind-blowing reality.
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Post by gary on Apr 3, 2014 10:01:07 GMT -5
It's like the Bataan Death March, but with a lower survival rate.
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Post by bartleby on Apr 3, 2014 10:02:23 GMT -5
Catch - 22 comes to mind...
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Post by moopigsdad on Apr 3, 2014 10:34:53 GMT -5
Final Destination, perhaps? Superbonbon, so is it those of us still standing on the Register haven't meant "death" yet in your analogy of "Final Destination?
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Post by mikeinthehills on Apr 3, 2014 10:43:41 GMT -5
Alice in Wonderland
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Post by hopefalj on Apr 3, 2014 10:58:17 GMT -5
Catching Fire, the second book/movie in the Hunger Games trilogy. A group of folks from all over the country (us) that are pitted against each other by an unseen but powerful force (OPM) and forced to undergo grueling and sadistic challenges (SJT/EA/WD/LBMT/SI) where some good and qualified people are killed (SD) and the rest of us are just trying to survive while playing their games, hoping for a victory tour.
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Post by ok1956 on Apr 3, 2014 11:16:48 GMT -5
I'm thinking Alice Through The Looking Glass.....
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Post by gary on Apr 3, 2014 11:36:27 GMT -5
Perhaps the Quest for the Holy Grail. Many knights seek it; only a small handful of the purest are allowed even a glimpse.
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jmgjr
Full Member
Posts: 57
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Post by jmgjr on Apr 3, 2014 11:37:59 GMT -5
I am thinking about the television series "Lost". They are dead but just don't know it.....plus there is that " smoke monster" to worry about.
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Post by gary on Apr 3, 2014 11:44:30 GMT -5
Could it be like St. Elsewhere, where it's all taking place in the imagination of an autistic child staring at a snow globe?
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Post by robespierre on Apr 3, 2014 12:40:59 GMT -5
Waiting for Godot
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Post by wingnut on Apr 3, 2014 13:32:15 GMT -5
Anyone see that movie "The Cube" where all those strangers find themselves inside a giant cube that changes configuration from time to time, all the while picking people off with random booby traps? And how the people keep speculating on how the whole thing works, whether it was made by aliens or maybe ... the government ... ?
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Post by Ace Midnight on Apr 3, 2014 13:37:02 GMT -5
For insiders, this is kind of like the Omaha Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan - you're in a landing craft with your unit. The ramp opens and everybody just gets mowed down. A few go over the side and drown. A small handful survive, get to the berm and cobble together an ad hoc unit with people you don't even know.
That kind of describes the register from an ODAR employee's perspective. That group that gets ready to open the Dog 1 exit.
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Post by chessparent on Apr 3, 2014 21:15:05 GMT -5
The Game, a David Fincher film starring Sean Penn & Michael Douglas, brothers in a questionable reality. Or Arrested Development, with lead character Tobias Fünke, depending on what post I'm reading... Excellent movie, the Game. I say this process resembles training to become an Olympic athlete-for Russia, China or N. Korea. The losers don't just lose, they are broken and never heard from again.
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Post by yarddog on Apr 3, 2014 21:32:17 GMT -5
I couldn't let that pass chessparent. Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for all the laughs and tears and good advice. Nazgul got me in the end.
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Post by chessparent on Apr 3, 2014 21:48:33 GMT -5
I couldn't let that pass chessparent. Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for all the laughs and tears and good advice. Nazgul got me in the end. But don't you remember "Return of the King "?? Looking forward to meeting you at the office when you prevail, banish the Nazgul and return to us, yarddog.
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Post by moopigsdad on Apr 4, 2014 0:10:11 GMT -5
I must say, with a few exceptions, I feel close family ties to all of you. I truly wish almost everyone of you the best and good luck. It has been a pleasure sharing this Board with such great attorneys, ALJs, SSA employees, and others. One movie quote from the great John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" stands out to me about how I feel about public service and why I became an attorney to serve those in need. It is this one: 'Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there . . . . I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'-I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build-why, I'll be there." Tom Joad- character from the book and movie.
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