[Icemaster]

There's not a damn thing wrong with you - you have standards and priorities and merely by askign teh question you've indicated that you've got your head on straighter than most folks.

Your standards and priorities are what drives your decisions. I don't blame you at all, being gone 60-70% of the time was a factor in my decision to move back into management again, but the kids were also a factor in my decision to move jobs out of management - I wasn't a very nice person and half the father I should have been when dealign with the 10 items that you listed as a ranking member of the chair force. I didn't like the stress of deciding which face I was going to wear today, and what game I was going to walk into each morning.

It probably wont get any better, honestly. I sincerely hope that it does for you. It's not all doom and gloom, there are good places and lots of very good people out there, it just a matter of finding them. My advice would be to define boundaries and your limits for the BS. You take only what you are willing to take and no more. Once that set point is crossed, you need to resolve yourself to taking action sometimes drastic sometimes not - but that's the only way that you will remain master of your own destiny. You control your future, and the best way to do that is to question everything, never doubt your instincts, and have teh guts to act when needed. Try putting the tagline "Non illegitmi carborundum" in your email tag line to remind yourself. It helps me.

Continue to be the man that your kid looks up to every day.