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Wow. Major props to JMM for blowing this wide open. Good for him.
take a second and enjoy our president's wishes to muslims worldwide on the first day of ramadan.
As a good first post to comment on, let me just apologize to everyone for failing to note Helena's birthday yesterday. I was feeling ill and didn't mention it, and for that I am deeply sorry.
I am unhappy that I cannot see her in person to wish her the best (my phone call, despite being ungodly early, was still the second she received!) but let me just say, virtually, that I hope she has as good a year this year as she did the last. I miss her, no more so than during the holiday months fast approaching.
Perhaps, one day, we'll get to take another holiday photo like in days of yore. Or go to Vegas. Or road trip back to college. Or just find a nice Crate & Barrel to argue in together. Salad days, indeed.
After some furious coding, I've enabled comments on the "news" section of the website. I should be enabling it on the rest of the subsections sometime tomorrow. To post a comment, you must be logged in. Regular users can see posted comments without being logged in, but are unable to post themselves.
The comments also use Markdown, so you'll be able to style your text just as you can with regular stories. In addition, each comment is color-coded to the member who posts it, so be sure to go into the author section to change your color to something easy to recognize.
I've also tweaked the page so that you won't get the annoying refresh-accidental-double-post problem. When you click "add comment", the comment is added to the database and then the page is generated later. So no matter how many times you click refresh, you won't get an annoying "you submitted a form via POST" message or the equally frustrating sight of multiple posts.
After I finish adding the comment form to the rest of the subsection pages, I'll have completed 1/3 of the coding work left on the site. The remaining 2/3 should be just as difficult, but even more rewarding for you, the user. So go test it out today!
You must read Olberman's take on the debate. Great stuff.
just reading through the thread on work, and i can't help but think that there is another category of "work-as-it-relates-to-happiness" stereotype out there. let me start off by saying that rarely anyone works because work makes them completely happy.
we all understand this, no?
regardless, what if, in the long run, one sacrifices the aforementioned "gee-i-love-my-job" for the long-term objective? long-term happiness is no less important than the "gee-i-love-my-job" variety. in fact, one might argue that being paid a lot of money and preparing for the future brings its own Maslow-ian (can i use that in print?) self-actualization by virtue of security.
i think some people throw the corporate-whore label around a little too freely. i also think it far too simplistic for someone to assert that they work simply because they are happy working. period. but there's room for all. and let's face it: i want to be a wealthy man. i don't want to be wealthy because i can by more drinks for more people, and i am not so base as to equate finance with "...traditional American surface-level happiness." Rather, i - like many others - am painfully driven and competitive. i want the most of everything. sometimes it works out for me, sometimes against. but that drive is not a function of sheer, blind slavery to the workplace. i, for one, sometimes sometimes like my job, and sometimes i do not like it. but i do like what's happening in the big picture.
Specifically, some reading about Bill O’Reilly and what he does for it (it being pleasure). It’s transcript-tastic! To echo the alert coworker who sent me the link: “Wow.”
I'm recovering from illness at the moment.
So with my free time, I'll offer a more lengthy rebuttal to Jill's excellent strawman killing ability.
First off, I never said that "my life" starts at 5pm. What I did say was that after 5, I should be able to do what I want because it is my life. So, for those a little slow on the uptake, that means that I shouldn't have to come on every evening at 7 o'clock to do even more work. Being a salaried employee means merely being able to not go on the clock to get paid. It doesn't mean that every single hour of your day belongs to your company. Even if one loves the work one does, your off hours should be yours to do with what you choose. The choice is important: if I choose to e-mail co-workers and obsess about work, it is still a choice. If I choose to simply read books, or watch movies instead, that is a choice. When the company says "hey, you need to come in over the weekend", that is not a choice. And that's what I take issue with. If one wants to work 14 hours a day, I would sincerely hope that those final six hours are a choice, not an "encouragement" by the company. How can one tell? Well, for starters, corporate cultures that value teamwork over individuality tend to encourage workers to conform and work the same hours as everyone else. Also, companies that put the onus of the future solvency of the business on the worker's shoulders also encourage too many hours. When was the last time someone went to an assembly line worker and said, "Hey, if you don't work two unpaid hours this evening, the business will go under." The unfortunate legacy of the dot-com bust era is that many small businesses have become increasingly adept at hiring too few workers to do too much work. Yes, worker productivity can increase, but only so far. Ask the investment banking firms that chew up and spit out people on a three-year cycle. They've figured out that they can get workers to work 16-18 hour days, and that they'll only burn out after 3 years. Good for the company, bad for the worker.
Second, I love my job. I work with a bunch of political junkies, who think nothing of taking weeks off to help with campaigns. Who know more about legislation than your average Senator. Who can toss off favorability ratings in their sleep, yet are never afraid to buck the party line. They are low maintenance and allow me to design at my own pace. We help states and cities fight back against the corporatization of the current administration. We do it in a bi-partisan way. (True!). My previous job, like Jill's, was "tolerable". I ran into one of my old bosses near Tysons the other day. I had forgotten how much thinks irked me there. I remember telling myself that as long as I learned something new every day, I would stay. One particular day passed, and I didn't learn anything new. I started making inquiries. A few weeks later I had left. I still learn something new every day at my current job. When that stops I'll probably leave too. Most people on this lump of dirt don't have the luxury of taking a job that is fulfilling. They just need to earn some money. I'm happy I don't fall into that trap, but I'm always keenly aware that, at any moment, I could. We are all just a hairsbreath away from disaster.As for the "happiness" associated with jobs that are not only fun, but are for a higher purpose...I have to say that I think most job fit into that description, if done well. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, policemen, you name it, any job, if done properly, can be for a greater purpose. To think any less is to be very base indeed.
Third, and most importantly, none of the arguments Jill brings up address the central thesis of the paper in question, namely, that in the future, workers will have to work harder for longer hours just to be employed. She says "balance" is anti-global, that some guy in India will do your job for far less so you better get used to it now. That's defeatist. And wrong. "Balance", as she describes it, is just another method to get people to work longer hours. I've always felt that if workers simply canned the water-cooler gossip, the lengthy lunches and the frivolous forwarded e-mails, that most people could accomplish in two days what they would normally take a week to finish. It's the increasing familial relationship with companies that lead people to spend 14 hours working in the office when they could've finished in 8 if they hadn't talked about last night's football game for so long. I say, skip the amenities, roll up your sleeves, and clock out at 5. Your company and wife will thank you.
What do you think of when The Delgados are mentioned? Right: rich male vocals backed by conscripted children’s choirs. Which is why the new single, “Everybody Come Down,” from Universal Audio—and the current Track You Should Be Listening To Right Now—is a shock: female vocals and not an Eton collar in sight. (At least it was a shock to me, but as a DJ I only know them on a track-by-track basis; I’m sure devoted fans have spit out their scones to holler at me.) Anyway, Emma’s voice is warm and welcoming; I’d place it somewhere between Stars and Dressy Bessy, though not as cool as the former or as cutesy as the latter. The jangly instrumentation is nice too, but it takes a backseat to the delightful “Everybody come down / We can drive, we can race, we can celebrate space.” A sweet track to get psyched up to go out to, or to accompany your search for a diner on the way home the next morning. (There are supposedly downloads on The Delgados’ site, but you have to be a member of the mailing list. Less committed individuals can listen to “Everybody Come Down” here or request it here. D.C. residents should note that, despite being a U.K. act, The Delgados are coming to the Black Cat on Sunday, November 14th, with Crooked Fingers—an amazing double-billing that is not to be missed!)
Meanwhile on the concert front: hit Mouse Trap at the Black Cat on Saturday with Edward and Jill and got my Brit-pop fix. Returned on Monday for the Mountain Goats show. Joan of Arc’s new emphasis on layered percussion and polyrhythms was a nice surprise. My main impression of John Vanderslice was that he went on too long for a Monday night show when I had to work the next morning. (God, I’m so…old.) My viewing of the Mountain Goats was curtailed somewhat (see previous reference to having to work) but I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw. As always, John Darnielle sounds like the product of an illicit liaison involving Bob Dylan and They Might Be Giants in Tallahassee bathroom. The poet of our generation? Maybe. The poet of waking up with vomit in your mouth, bugs under your skin, sharing a motel room for the third night in a row with five other people you didn’t like in the first place? God, yes.
I'm sure most CEO's "work" an 11-hour day. Of course, that includes a two hour lunch break (business discussed!) or a three hour negotiation over dinner. The fact is, the "work" that CEO's do often involve a great deal of gladhanding and golf gaming. If you put any CEO on an assembly line for the same time, they'd probably pass out.
Oh, yeah, Kerry kicked Bush's ass tonight. But you already knew that.
Says Edward, in his final analysis on the relationship between work and life: "But when the whistle blows, and that dinosaur's tail comes down, it's time to leave work behind and relax. It's my life, after all."
Look, if your life starts at five PM, then maybe you need to re-evaluate your life. Me, I'm not about to waste a single hour of the time I have in this world--it's short enough already. I don't hang out with boring people, I don't watch Fox News, and I sure as hell don't spend eight hours a day doing something unless it makes me happy.
That's the point. You shouldn't spend your life doing something that's "tolerable". In my last job, I worked from nine to six each day. Liked the work all right. Had lots of time for going out with friends, dinners, the works. Sometime around the two-month mark, I woke up one Thursday and thought "I don't want to go to work." I quit the next day.
In my current job, I often work fourteen-hour days. But I'm happy. It's not because I'm friends with the people I work with--although that helps--it's because I'm doing what I'm good at for a purpose I believe in. Ultimately, all the foosball tables in the world won't make up for a job you don't care about.
If for you, happiness is just drinks and friends and movies, then you won't understand my point. Yes, there are people who work like hell to earn more money so they can buy more drinks, impress more friends, and see more movies. That's not what I'm talking about. Then there are people whose jobs are easy, and they spend their days surfing the internet or chatting with co-workers. That's also not what I'm talking about. Martin Sigelman of UPenn talks about three kinds of happiness. There's the traditional American surface-level happiness of laughter and beaches--Edward, this is your post-5pm "relaxation." There's the happiness of doing something you're good at, be it writing or arguing or surgery. And finally, there's the happiness of knowing that you're contributing to something you believe in, be it teaching or parenting or politics. When you're great at what you do and you're doing it for something great, you won't need to build walls between the different parts of your life. It'll all be part of the same story.
Oh, one more thing--in your concluding paragraph, you pull a George Bush and present an argument based an anecdotes and not much else. So instead of rebutting it by telling you that my current COO is a workaholic social imbecile (true!) I will tell you that the average CEO works an 11-hour day. But hey, who knows, perhaps you're right about the "social butterfly" factor (although Bill Gates dosn't really seem like such a charmer to me)--but if you're going to make the argument, be willing to do the research to back it up.
Okay, someone just sent me this article. Read it.
I disagree with the central thesis of the argument about "balance" for several reasons. Let's roll the tape:
The froth fed a sort of industry, as consultants rushed to help businesses help employees balance work and life. That's the point of on-site day care, of breast-feeding rooms, of flextime and telecommuting and take-home dinners from the company cafeteria -- and, more notorious, in days of dotcoms past, of take-your-pet-to-work policies and foosball tables.
First of all, my idea of balance isn't integrating work into your home life. Onsite daycare, take your pet to work and foosball tables all serve one purpose: making the company seem more like your family so that you won't mind spending time there. This isn't balance. This is the increasing corporatization of the American family. Your time is the company's time, in this model. I, instead, believe that there needs to be a Chinese wall between the office and home. Sure, it's nice to telecommute, or check e-mail on the road. But it's a slippery slope between having a blackberry and having your company require you to be "on call" 24-7. I remember my boss at the USDA saying I needed to be "on call" for a weekend, which meant that I couldn't drive too far away or go to a movie where I had to turn off my cell-phone. That isn't balance. That's just wrong.
Wood isn't married, though he does date. He loves biking, running, and the annual trek that he takes with friends through Southern Asia. Mostly, though, he loves Room to Read. He'll do 11-hour days in his San Francisco office, have a working dinner, then check email late at night. He works seven days a week, year-round.
But here's how he thinks about it: "I don't look at balance as an ideal. What I look at is, Am I happy? If the answer is yes, then everything else is inconsequential. If you look at the number of hours I work, it's probably extreme. But those hours talking with an adviser over dinner -- is that work? Well, yeah, but it's also stimulating.
Stimulating? Stimulating? Look, being a workaholic is not a bad thing. Burning the midnight oil occasionally is fine. But if you do it too much, you exclude a whole host of other activities that require personal interaction. One can "schedule" a run at any time during the day. Or go biking when there's a free hour. Unfortunately, people aren't like that. You can't just pencil in an hour with your wife. Or go on a date with a time limit. Is Wood happy? Of course he's going to say he is! Only a loser would say "no, I'm very lonely". The guy works 11 hour days, for god's sake. Who would want to put up with that?
The global economy is antibalance. For as much as Accenture and Google say they value an environment that allows workers balance, they're increasingly competing against companies that don't. You're competing against workers with a lot more to gain than you, who will work harder for less money to get the job done. This is the dark side of the "happy workaholic." Someday, all of us will have to become workaholics, happy or not, just to get by.
Wow. The truth comes out: balance is bad because eventually we will all be wage slaves. Nice. Again, companies like Google and Accenture aren't trying to create a firm divide between work and home: they're trying to blur it. Because once you get employees "on the team" they're likely to stay. Or work 11-hour days. Either way, the company wins.
Protest, if you like, against labor exploitation or unfair competition. The reality is, workers in India, China, Brazil, and, inevitably, everywhere else aren't stopping long to worry about it. They make our developed-world notion that workers actually are entitled to balance seem quaintly dated.
For years, work-life advocates have held up as a model the "work to live" ethic of Europeans, who historically have toiled fewer hours than Americans. But those would-be paragons are failing, too. The French government is reconsidering its decision in 2000 to reduce the national workweek to 35 hours. And two of Germany's largest companies, Siemens AG and DaimlerChrysler, have (with popular support) won union concessions that will force longer hours for employees.
Mmm. Good. Traditional union-bashing. Yep. Wow, I bet if America just got rid of those pesky unions we could get back to the kind of yearly growth in real wages we saw in the 50s and 60s when, uh, unions were much more powerful. Next...
So it is that Tina Sharkey, AOL's senior vice president of life management and community, finds herself on a plane two or three days a week, taking photos of her meal, the flight attendants, everything, so her two young kids will know what she does.
Sharkey's routine seems, to many who know her, mind-boggling. She and her husband, fully employed entrepreneur Seth Goldstein, live with their kids in New York. But many of her 250 employees are at AOL's Dulles, Virginia, headquarters. So she spends one or two nights a week at a hotel nearby. Even at home, her workday is a whirl; she typically breaks at 6 p.m. to go home but is back online from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. As "chief everything officer" of her family, as she puts it, Sharkey coordinates the children's care and family meals, and participates in what school functions she can.
You know, this is the silliest notion of all. The author at least debunks the idea that we can be all manic and only sleep two hours a night and have time to fit it all in. But her example of the person who can do that, is someone who only spends three days at home a week. And who takes pictures of airline food to compensate her kids. Guess what, lady? Your kids are not going to be impressed with pictures of reclining first class seats. And if you're "delegating" responsibility of them to someone else, chances are they'll end up liking that person more than they like you.
D.C. is the perfect example of this: every few years a new crop of politicians arrive, work like mad, sleep on couches in apartments, and generally don't take care of their family. Inevitably, a divorce happens, and the same people marry their Leg-Ass, renounce term-limits and start raking in the PAC money. It's just how things go when you have a high-stress environment and you're away from your family for half the time.
I'm not knocking workaholics. If you catch me at the right time, even slothful Edward has been known to go crazy with work. (One week with Helena, we both cranked out more work per hour than I've ever seen, before or since.) And if there's a problem that requires staying up 23 straight hours and fixing it, I can do it. But when the whistle blows, and that dinosaur's tail comes down, it's time to leave work behind and relax. It's my life, after all. This article seems to boil down to a key point: working hard is the only thing that will get you ahead. My biggest counterargument is simple: remember that guy who works like mad in the office? Remember how socially awkward he is? Now think of the CEO, or COO. Not too bright, are they? But they're nice and chummy and friendly. Know how they got to the top? It wasn't due to their superb knowledge. It was due to their social abilities. And that's something you can't improve with an 80 hour work week.
For the latest Sinclair Boycott info, head over here.
Thinking of getting a TiVo? Before you do, drop me a line. I'm now a member of the TiVo rewards program...which means that if I get five friends to purchase a TiVo, I get a free one. Sound too good to be true? It isn't...
werkz advice: worth it if you can stomach it.
The latest from the creators of "South Park", "Team America: World Police" is probably the most offensive movie you'll ever watch and enjoy. It is sort of akin to a twisted episode of the "Orbitz Patrol", with marionettes doing things they shouldn't be doing.
Although the movie ostensibly makes fun of Hollywood actors, it satirizes militia types just as much, leaving no sacred cow uneaten. If you can handle the sheer lunacy and dirty humor, it's well worth your money. The title song alone about America is worth the price of admission.
The blogosphere is abuzz with action surrounding Sinclair's decision to broadcast an anti-kerry screed.
Atrios also speaks.
All in all, everyone is banding together to fight this flagrant abuse. Are you?
If my team wasn’t consistently coming out ahead, I would SO be in favor of banning televised debates. Seriously, they have become nothing more than televised statements and spin. Don’t get me wrong, I find them incredibly entertaining – and kudos to campaigns for manipulating the media system for some free exposure. Every debate is so scripted & scheduled by camapigns. Spontaneity is dead.
Right or wrong, I really don’t believe debates have any REAL significant impact on most voters. The impact & influence, unfortunately, comes from the days & days of media spin following the debates. TV feeds obese America. I really don’t think most Americans have the necessary knowledge to truly decipher the content & rhetoric of a presidential debate. And PLEASE, they so aren’t real debates.
I am in AZ. In two days we will be swarmed by national self-important politicos & media – 2 WEEKS BEFORE E-DAY!! Not cool. The events & preparation surrounding these things are so incredibly superfluous. Consequently, I am taken away from other responsibilities in order to staff our Chairman at dinners with peeps such as Walter Cronkite, Hugh Downs & Larry King, etc. (aren’t they like - dead already?!), I am being required to attend numerous foo-foo receptions & meetings. Benefit, or perk you may say….fall of democratic politics, I say. Everyone is doing everything BUT what they are supposed to be doing 2 weeks out from the election. I have been in this mess called politics for more than 10 years - not long, but long enough to see that things seem to be increasingly more about animation than foundation. Being a swing state, this is not good. All we are doing is feeding America’s media dependence – a sound-bite understanding of the greatest political process in the world. I hate the media.
Some do call it "Genocide Day," though certainly not in the context of celebration. That would in fact be the pithy response to why we don't take the holiday. (Yes, I'm at work today)
Berkeley, though, has officially renamed the holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day. Since the initial change to Native American Day almost 15 years ago, they have changed it many more times, always in response to complaints from interest groups who feel more oppressed by the new name. We are very PC out here and try not to hurt anyone's feelings.
So, now it's Indigenous Peoples Day, although the Italian Americans are still unhappy. As it turns out, the most appropriate name would probably be Oppressed Peoples Day. I don't say that to be mean or insensitive, or to make light of the offense suffered by groups whose heritage is not honored, mis-honored, or de-honored. Instead I offer the suggestion as a point of logic: anyone who feels left out that they don't have their own holiday or offended by the moniker Oppressed Peoples Day is automatically included by virtue of their own distress.
I realize I sound like a heel, and I don't really mean it. I just think it's a silly waste of energy to play tug-o-war over a holiday that to 99.9% of people is just permission to get drunk on a Sunday night. Or maybe I'm just bitter because I have to go to work anyway.
A far better use of time and money could be spent getting modern textbooks into public schools so that kids stop growing up with a white-centric version of history that glorifies conquest and overtaking other people's homes and cultures.
There's a new Clydes going into Gallery Place next to the 14 screen theater. Bliss.
I made some of their famous chili this weekend. Also bliss, thanks to peppercorn cheddar cheese.
The sun was bright, the sky blue, the weather cool. A burst of map-inspiration and a full tank of gas led me to Mt. Vernon, where I enjoyed the grounds immensely.
The entrance was spectacular, consisting of half a mile of chain-link fence covered smartly by black tarps.
In the process, I passed by a large 16-sided building described as a replica of a barn originally miles away. Thinking such a process to be at best mundane and at worst a waste of the historical society's limited funds, I walked around to the back of the structure, where I noticed a large ramp leading to the second story of the barn. It turns out that I was wrong about the barn. It was not an ordinary structure designed to hold hay or feed or animals. It was, instead, designed for the Day of The Treading.
The siren song of the loudspeaker beckoned poor tourists to come inside and witness the majesty of The Treading, although it would be days until all the materials were assembled and the place was properly prepared. Desperate to escape, I walked quickly away toward another building called the "Pioneer Video Celebration Room". Upon entrance, I noticed that this room too, had a far sinister purpose. The walls were covered upon every surface with a variety of cutting and drilling instruments of torture. Anxious to escape from adzes and augers, I avoided the "instructional video" and made for the wharf.
Other than these moments, the day was spent pleasantly.
Afterward, I traveled with Jill to Mason Neck, in our pursuit of an afternoon spot near the river. We somehow stumbled upon the breeding grounds of the upper-class adventure addict: the area was full of fresh water windsurfers with expensive audis, some kayakers and even a couple of parasurfers. Definitely wet-suit high society, which segued nicely into our evening entertainment, of watching Pride and Prejudice from netflix with a little chipotle love. Having never read the book itself (yes, I'm an English major gone rogue), I was delighted to see the story end, very un-vikram-seth-like, with the girl getting the right guy, with the big estate, that she actually likes. A model for us all: never settle.
Football game followed. Ronald whooped it up over me for the first half, but as the second dawned, and Ed Reed scored the quafecta of forcing a sack, causing a fumble, recovering a fumble and scoring a touchdown, Ron realized the problem: the Redskins just love to choke. The Ravens, thank god, managed to overcome an anemic offense to triumph by the skin of their teeth again.
Now it's Columbus Day. Or as they say in Helena's workplace, "Genocide Day". So I'm off. Thanks to ICapture, I was able to resolve some stupid mac-issues with the backend this morning. And post this. Now it's time to do a little gardening, followed by shopping. Another full day ahead.
I missed the debate because—here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type—my anti-Bush jug band, George Washington and His Wooden Teeth, had a gig at College Perk Coffeehouse. My favorite post-debate sound bite came from NPR the next morning:
BUSH: You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone. There are 30 countries there. It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their sacrifices. You cannot lead an alliance if you say, you know, you're going alone. And people listen. They're sacrificing with us.
KERRY: Mr. President, countries are leaving the coalition, not joining. Eight countries have left it. If Missouri, just given the number of people from Missouri who are in the military over there today, were a country, it would be the third largest country in the coalition, behind Great Britain and the United States. That's not a grand coalition.
I’d like to salute the grand people of the sovereign state of Missouri, even if their reputation as the “Show Me” state is all too appropriate...and damn annoying.
Sometimes I really think the whole scene in 'Unbreakable' dealing with simple odds could be materially correct, at least dealing with serendipitous circumstances. Take tonight for instance.
The Ravens are losing, looking as always particularly inept on offense. Boller? For once it was not his fault, but with Heap out and Gibb's boys blitzing half of the time, a first down was pretty rare. And then Ed Reed single handedly turns the game around. Seconds later, a friend shows up in the King's palace, and we're off to poker.
You know how the story ends - Brad smokes the competition and almost triples his money by the time people call it quits. A good weekend, you say? Nah, par for the course...
Okay, so our team's best offensive scorer is our kicker. And our leading rusher is going to jail for a few months. So what? We still beat the skins, due to our exceptional defense and terrific special teams.
The Skins are hurting, frankly. I was just happy to see the Ravens come from behind to dominate the final half.