Office Productivity

If you're troubled by excessive productivity at your office, these people can help.

Headline

A headline from the LA Times blog:

Countdown to Crawford
The Last Days of the Bush Administration

Ooooh, does that sound good.

Dreamin'

I like reading Real Simple magazine, which I still think of as "Martha Stewartless Living". It's well written, well designed, and frequently has articles that make me stop and think...though not the ones about how to pick the perfect bra, get the best nail color, or ....well, you get the idea. But the ones that make me think are worth it, and are in fact why I subscribed to the magazine to begin with. Initially, it was a fund raiser for our daughter, but now it's because we like it.

One section that frequently gets me thinking is their monthly contest where they ask offbeat questions, and you answer to win something. This month, the responses were to answer this: what are your wildest dreams? Reading through them, a number were predictable -- have every pair of Jimmy Choos ever made, walk barefoot in the sand on Fiji, have dinner with Jack Nicholson. (Actually, that last one, I might enjoy, myself. Depends on his ego.) Some of the answers were hard to believe -- not that I thought they were lying, but that I thought 'thats your wildest dream? ' For example, several said that they just wanted their children to grow up as decent people, or to hold their grandchildren. But that got me to thinking. I've never much been persuaded by those articles that say you ought to 'live your dreams', because, for the most part, I've never had dreams. Oh, there have certainly been things I'd like to do, or like to have done, and once in a while -- like when I got to spend three months in Australia -- I've done them. Mostly, though, they fall into the category of things that would be nice, but I'm certainly not going to spend time dreaming about them, because whats the point? Thats where the occasional thoughts about being a professional photographer, or just once being actually, no kidding, well-dressed -- as in, George Clooney in Oceans Eleven well dressed -- without looking like a dork, or being able to get why people like eating fish, or going to the CIA's Baking Boot Camp -- thats where those dreams go. And even those aren't wild. Hard to achieve, you bet. Me, well-dressed? Ah...no. Don't think so.

But it made me wonder: what if dreams really were valuable? What if they really could motivate you, help you steer your life, give you the psychic boost that the people who write those self-help books want you to think they do? If that was true...what would mine be?

Wish I knew. A little, anyway.

News Scoops

It's always easier to know how something ought to be done if you don't personally have to do it. Take Newser.

Newser's a service that promises to show you news in a quick, capsule form across a variety of topics. It lets you 'tune' what you see. You can tell it how often to update its display, and you can select whether you want to see just hard news, softer stuff, or material thats somewhere inbetween. The display is nice, with both text and images, some of which offer a capsule summary of the linked page. Not bad.

On the other hand, looking at it five minutes ago, selecting hard news in politics, it told me about Jim Johnson's quitting, and that Tim Russert died, and that Clinton says she's going to back Obama. To copy the phrase I heard for a television news station years ago -- two days ago, that was news. Today, it's history. Why are they showing me this stuff?

There's a grey area, of course. What if the article about Johnson includes more detail about his transgressions, or whether he was pushed or jumped -- would that qualify as current news? I think so. On the other hand, telling me that Russert is dead -- well, he was dead two days ago. Is he deader now? Information about funeral arrangements, or background material on his medical condition doesn't expand the article, doesn't tell me more about the core concept. And seeing articles where Obama says he will be the nomimee -- hello? Will?

I think they could have done better. Then again -- I didn't have to do it, did I? And the view is always good from the sidelines.

So THERE

Thursday, Mechanicsburg will be holding its 80th annual Jubilee Day, the largest one-day street fair in the eastern part of the United States.

Try not to be too envious....

Wasted Day

I baked two things today, neither of which turned out well. I installed Firefox 3, which immediately disabled an addon I use a lot, and when I tried to restore the old version, it flat would not start. (A reinstallation fixed that.)

So I think I'll take a nap.

Plumbing, And So Forth

It's never a cheerful sign when the plumber, who's been called to replace a leaking outdoor hose spigot, says that he's never seen one put in on an angle before. Though I of course support the concept of a learning environment, I'm not as thrilled when it's me that's paying for it. Perhaps that's the difference between theory and practice.

If anyone can explain to me why it was necessary to have the infernal device carried to Wayne Tower, in Batman Begins, I would appreciate it. I know what they were trying to do; I just cannot understand why it was necessary to bring it 'to the hub'. Though, of course, watching the substitute driver in the Batmobile, aka the Tumbler, was nifty. Including the awkward little wave at the end.

I am looking for something to read until Blue Ocean Strategy, which is not about the Navy or even the water, but rather marketing and segmentation strategy, comes in to the local library via an inter library loan. I do seriously like those. I sometimes think that I should periodically make a donation to them just so I don't feel guilty about making them go through the extra effort. Then I think about how irritated I get that they never seem to have anything like that just on the shelf, and I conveniently forget about the idea.

Tried baking some fortune cookies this morning. When they say that you have to fold them very quickly, they're not kidding.

Formal Statement

Please use this with the following:

Statement:
a) launching the pig
b) box 2
c) shatter your mailbox
d) execute an experiment in ballistic flight
e) retailiating for not being invited to your pool party
f) sincere
g) use smaller bovines in the future
h) would withdraw your tort
i) neighbor
j) Bill

Sincerity: Leftmost oval
Excuses: Option seven
Feel: Option seven
Please: Options four, five, six, and seven

Luncheon Observation

At lunch today, I left early with my daughter so that she could get to a pool party. My wife and I kissed before I left. Oh, gross! my daughter said, adding 'Knock it off -- you're over fifty!' My wife smiled and said that that meant we could do it wherever we wanted. And we did it again.

Slippery

Learned from a Twitter comment -- how long I'll keep that up, I don't know; even if it is what all the hep cats are groovin' to, I can't figure out what to do with it -- that I can't be a solipist because I respond to comments on this blog too often. I guess I can live with that. I do wish occasionally that there were more people looking at this, but short of offering sex, drugs, politics, and rock n'roll, which I don't have on tap, I don't have 'attractors'. Guess I'll have to work on that.

Picked up my daughter's grades from school, and - of course - looked at them before I got home. Not bad. She improved, overall, and even though I would have let her stay in color guard anyway - conditionally - she did well enough that I could do it with a straight face. So, she's happy. Today I take her to a pool party, and maybe hang around. I don't plan to, but we'll see.

Learned today that a friend from work died yesterday. He was in his early fifties, and out of the blue, had a heart attack. Way too much of that stuff going around.

Motoring

We were in the mood to go out this evening, either for a walk -- it was about 83 degrees -- or a drive. We chose the latter, headed down towards Gettysburg, and then back. What was odd was that we specifically chose the comfort of the van over the economy of the Prius -- and even then, kept an eye on mileage, which turned out to be just about half of what the Prius gets. We care about mileage -- but we're not going insane over it. At least, not yet.

Tomorrow my daughter's going to a pool party hosted by the father of one of the girls in color guard. I told her that I did not intend to hang around, but that I would if there were no other adults there. She grimaced and asked if I would consider people who could drive as being 'adults' -- the local driving age is, I believe, 16. I told her I would. My wife isn't too thrilled about that. My feeling is that I'd rather have adults there, but we'll see how it looks when I get there. Its not a question of trusting my daughter -- its a question of trusting everybody else.

According to the New York Times, some gay couples that got married are now finding that marriage wasn't a good idea. Others that didn't get married now think they should have. For some, one wants to get married, and one does not. And for still others, both chose not to get married, and are happy with that. What was that about being worried that this would destroy marriage? These people are - GASP - just like us!

Smoky

I'm lying in bed, with the Sunday papers around me, the crinkled foil of fine chocolate next to me, and the aroma of smoke in the air.

Actually, it's incense. My daughter went to the local Ten Thousand Villages to buy a Fathers Day gift for me, despite my protesting that a) she really didn't have to, and b) Circuit City not only has plasma televisions on sale, they also have the Alert 5 delivery truck sitting, idling, outside, ready to Make That Delivery.... But TTV is what she likes, and where she went. Truth to tell, the incense isn't all that great -- it isn't particularly aromatic, and from what I gather, not at all hallucinogenic, either -- but I appreciate the thought. It was nice of her.

This morning I got to cook breakfast -- my wife was up till just past 3 on a system upgrade that had serious problems, else she'd likely have done it. We were under some time constraints, because my daughter's friend had slept over, and we had promised her parents that she'd be back home by ten. Real quick breakfast! But there was enough time for excellent coffee -- Ghiradella chocolate orange -- with waffles, fresh strawberries, and bacon (doing it in the oven really does work significantly better than cooking it on top of the range). I think her friend was a little bemused by it all. Her family tends to be more structured for meals, apparently, whereas we were doing our traditional two people sit down one person pops up arrangement. But we got it done, and ten minutes later she was on her way home. I told my wife that I would not remind the girl that the last time I saw her, she was naked in our living room, and she said that that was a very good idea.

I am not sure what we're doing today. I suspect my wife and I will take a nap -- we're both looking like the Walking Wasted -- and that will be pretty much it. Oh, and slough through the papers. For some reason, I got three this morning. Lets see if they all tell the same story.

Obamaworld

There's an interesting article in the current Economist on 'Who's Who In Obamaworld' == that being, who's going to be running things if Obama wins. Looking at the smiling faces, I said to my wife 'I wonder how many of these people will be despised or discredited within the first two years?'

Because its got to happen. Many of his economic advisers, even though they have political chops (why I'm really glad Clinton didn't win? It means James Carville won't be poking his dome up above the horizon for a while), are predominantly academics -- and as Ben Bernanke is finding out, economics in the real world doesn't always play out the way that the theories, even the judiciously applied ones, say that it should. (Which brings to mind: why isn't 'economics' considered a plural? ) Some of these people are going to be quite surprised to find that their reasonable suggestions are hotly rejected by people, even people that they thought were on their side. It'd be fun to watch if it wasn't so serious.

Unpleasantly Oogly? Hmm...

I liked this article. It treated the subject gracefully, and even with humour. Even with that, though, I think it'll be a while before we see this kind of dap routinely.

SatMorn

Last night I heard a very strange phrase. It's one of those where if you repeat it, the chances are very good someone will get offended -- so I'll merely point it out here, and note that after my daughter left the breakfast table this morning, I said it, laughing, to my wife, several times. Wonderful person that she is, she just smiled politely.

Today my daughter has a friend coming over - a girl that she went to preschool with. When she was at the school, there were four of them who hung out together -- my daughter, Torie, Maggie, and Beth. Each had her own style -- Torie was very, very quiet; Maggie was noisy and a little aggressive; Beth was a jock (and still is, I hear). For the longest time, she lost touch with them, and when she finally did get back together with one or the other of them, she learned that the same thing had happened to each of them -- as they grew up and went to different school districts, they'd only see each other on occasion, and my daughter, almost never. About two weeks ago, my wife was talking with Beth's mother, with whom she works, and she sang the same litany == my daughter would really like to get together with your daughter. They set something up, and the two girls called each other. Now I intermittently hear my daughter talking a great length with Beth, complaining casually about how dull her life is - Dull is good! I mouth - and how they really need to get together again. Well, today's the day. My wife and I, of course, think that this is a perfect reason for my daughter to clean the hell out of her room -- I now have great sympathy for people who describe their child's room as a morass of clothing where at times you cannot see the floor; surely you exaggerate, I used to think, but no more. My daughter accepts that we will want her to do this. She may even pick something off one pile and move it over to another. See? I did it!

My beard itches. Oh, the problems of the idle retired.

I mentioned the other day that I was surprised to find that I 'have a follower' on Twitter; for that, I was surprised to find that I was even still there. Now one of the people who looks at this blog mentions that she is 'following' me as well. I have to find out if there is a service that will make Twitter entries for me so as to make my life seem more interesting, more eventful than it actually is, because otherwise I think that these people are going to be seriously disappointed. That's it? You're not leaving things out? That's really all you do all day?

Juiced

If you read this blog routinely, you know that I'm not that exciting a guy. Interesting, I like to think, but exciting? Ah..no. So it won't come as too much a surprise to find that I think this is exciting stuff. Found on the Cherryflava blog:

Business trends from around the world: London, England

Rain sent us this pic of an electric car recharge pole, which is directly opposite the Bentley and Rolls Royce dealerships in Berkley Square. Juice Point for a G-Wiz - this electric car thing is getting serious.

Tweet

I don't twit, so I was surprised to get an email today to inform me that a person whose blog I occasionally read is 'following me' on Twitter. Then I remembered that for a couple of days, I tried the application, before giving up on it. I thought I had deleted it, but apparently not. I don't think I'll be putting things there -- heck, I don't think I remember how to do that -- but maybe, once in a while, I'll stop by, just to see whats up. Trying not to be a twit, in the process.

Oh.....yeah.

This is something that (probably) only a person with a certain military background might notice. See anything odd about this illustration? (Actually, there are two things -- one's relatively obvious, and one isn't.)

Terrorists, Anyone?

Okay, now this is cool.

You're likely aware of the mini-tempest about the Obama Bump. Terrorist dap, and all that. Well -- turns out he's not the only one to do the knuckle-bop.


Yes, that's George Bush I and Anna Kournikova.

Fodders Day

I've never been one for celebrating Father's Day. My birthday, either, but FD, especially not. I don't see the point.

Not to be harsh, but if you aren't already enjoying being a father, having a your day isn't going to help. Plus, there's no good reason to use it as an excuse to buy yourself something, no matter how often I tease my wife and daughter about this being the year they're getting me that big screen plasma television with Bose surround sound and a comfortable leather recliner that nobody else gets to use. (Every year, that list gets longer). You're an adult, go get it yourself. Creeping around hinting strikes me as infantile. And in my case, if they did buy that laundry list, I'd be astounded (I thought they were smarter than that), and, truthfully, a little disappointed, because a) its more fun to tease about it than to get it (how often does the longed-for item actually fulfill your desires?) and b) I'd rather we had the money than the item. Thats not universally true, but it is pretty much true.

Not to say that celebrations are entirely out, though since my wife has this thing about nubile hookers with flexible, um, morals, the kind that comes to mind likely isn't going to happen. But, you know, thats probably goodness, too. I would really not know how to proceed with one. No, really. I've wondered for a long time -- what do you do with a hooker? Not the literal this goes here, that goes there, oral sex doesn't mean just talking about it, but the logistics of the whole process. When I saw Scent of A Woman, I was quite taken by the image of the elegant -- hooker seems a bit coarse, but thats what she was -- and the night of delights. I'd occasionally muse about how totally awesome that must be (well, till I found out about Elliot Spitzer), but I knew in my heart that if I were ever in that situation, I'd be just as suave, cool, and confident as your average pimply-faced adolescent. Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me? So, no hookers for Father's Day.

But according to the Christian Science Monitor, thats okay, because lots of guys are cutting back this year.