There are two remarkable trends in society these days, as I see it. One is the binding together in increasing intricacy of the communications and information systems across the world, and on a person-to-person level at that. It never fails to amaze me that people from disparate places like Malaysia, Venezuela, or Chicago can just click onto my blog and “instantly” read my thoughts off their screens (as well as send e-mail). Just look at Wikipedia, and how easy it is to reference practically any topic that one can imagine. If I had paranoid tendencies (and who doesn’t, at least a little bit sometimes), I would feel very threatened by others having easy access to information about me. I know people who won’t even go near a computer for this reason. But I have a different take on things. I know that life is short, and one of the things that I’ve heard that the elderly regret is that they didn’t express themselves more boldly when they were younger. I hear all this talk about America and the Bill of Rights, with its First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech. So why not take advantage of it? Maybe somewhere, some agency is filing away my freely-given thoughts. So what? As I said before, life is short.
Which brings me to the second trend I’ve discovered around me. The best way for me to describe it is “entropy of interest”. As previously difficult-to-obtain information becomes more readily available, it seems (to me) that people are actually becoming less and less interested in others and, instead, are specializing their attention in certain “pet” areas that fit in with their own life narratives. For example, it is no surprise to me that people accessing this blog almost solely do so through searches of specific topics of interest and not to see what I write on a day-to-day basis. So the prevailing dynamics of the Internet and blogs, as I see it, are quite impersonal and indicative of a kind of dispersal of interest. The more interconnected people become, it seems, the more narcissistic they get as well. It sounds a bit paradoxical, I know, but I don’t know how better to express it.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monday Newsbreak: 12/10
--Senseless shootings in our society seem to run in patterns. Earlier this week, a young man randomly killed several people at an Omaha, Nebraska shopping mall before taking his own life. And now, in two different incidences in Colorado, at least three people have been shot and killed, apparently with some connection to the victims' practice of Christianity. The idea of going on a rampage like this is so repugnant that there can be no hint of sympathy regarding the perpetrators' grievances or sufferings. Still, it's important to get inside the minds and motives of this disgusting vermin in order to head off future occurrences.
--I see that Oprah Winfrey is openly campaigning for her preferred Presidential candidate, Barack Obama. Good for them! I like Obama too, and I also believe that he has a good shot, once and if he receives the Democratic nomination, to attract enough broad support to win the general election. But I also believe that Oprah's endorsement carries little value for him in this quest. Just four years ago, right before the Iowa caucuses, several notables lined up to endorse then-frontrunner Howard Dean. Even Al Gore publicly backed him, but to no avail. Dean's campaign disintegrated from the disappointing (for him) Iowa results, as well as from the New Hampshire primary. If Obama wins Iowa, I doubt that it will have had that much to do with celebrity endorsements.
--According to a recently released intelligence report, Iran ceased seeking nuclear weapons development back in 2003. But the Bush administration continued to criticize and ostracize this country, with the President only a few months ago raising the spectre of World War III regarding an Iran with nuclear weapons. I remember, as a kid, Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev being portrayed as mad and trying to take over the world. This is exactly how Bush and his warmongering supporters are portraying the current Iranian president. Only back in the early 1960s, we had a statesman in John Kennedy, who realized the necessity to sit down with his Soviet counterpart and come to some mutual understanding regarding such a grave issue as nuclear armament. Unfortunately, there is no such statesman currently inhabiting the White House.
--University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the prestigious Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in 2007. I'm happy for Tim, but I think that any of the other three that were selected as finalists deserved the award as well. And one of these could very well be playing next year for the hapless Miami Dolphins, who at 0-13 are also virtually assured of having the NFL's worst record and, consequently, next year's first draft pick. After all, who else finished second in the Heisman voting to Steve Spurrier in 1966 but Purdue quarterback Bob Griese. Griese was picked in the draft by the Dolphins and went on to win two out of the three Super Bowls that he started for with them as well as go on to the NFL Hall of Fame! I'd love to see Miami get hold of somebody like Darren McFadden or Colt Brennan!
--I see that Oprah Winfrey is openly campaigning for her preferred Presidential candidate, Barack Obama. Good for them! I like Obama too, and I also believe that he has a good shot, once and if he receives the Democratic nomination, to attract enough broad support to win the general election. But I also believe that Oprah's endorsement carries little value for him in this quest. Just four years ago, right before the Iowa caucuses, several notables lined up to endorse then-frontrunner Howard Dean. Even Al Gore publicly backed him, but to no avail. Dean's campaign disintegrated from the disappointing (for him) Iowa results, as well as from the New Hampshire primary. If Obama wins Iowa, I doubt that it will have had that much to do with celebrity endorsements.
--According to a recently released intelligence report, Iran ceased seeking nuclear weapons development back in 2003. But the Bush administration continued to criticize and ostracize this country, with the President only a few months ago raising the spectre of World War III regarding an Iran with nuclear weapons. I remember, as a kid, Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev being portrayed as mad and trying to take over the world. This is exactly how Bush and his warmongering supporters are portraying the current Iranian president. Only back in the early 1960s, we had a statesman in John Kennedy, who realized the necessity to sit down with his Soviet counterpart and come to some mutual understanding regarding such a grave issue as nuclear armament. Unfortunately, there is no such statesman currently inhabiting the White House.
--University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the prestigious Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in 2007. I'm happy for Tim, but I think that any of the other three that were selected as finalists deserved the award as well. And one of these could very well be playing next year for the hapless Miami Dolphins, who at 0-13 are also virtually assured of having the NFL's worst record and, consequently, next year's first draft pick. After all, who else finished second in the Heisman voting to Steve Spurrier in 1966 but Purdue quarterback Bob Griese. Griese was picked in the draft by the Dolphins and went on to win two out of the three Super Bowls that he started for with them as well as go on to the NFL Hall of Fame! I'd love to see Miami get hold of somebody like Darren McFadden or Colt Brennan!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
The Forrest Gump Syndrome
Like many others, I thoroughly enjoyed the Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump, where he played a young, slightly retarded Alabama man who led a charmed life through adversity (and history) while maintaining his values and vitality. The character of Forrest Gump was himself a larger-than-life, somewhat surreal character that I had a bit of difficulty relating to when I first saw the movie. But I could certainly identify with many of the assorted people that he ran across along his life's journey. After all, as a rule they were clueless about what they were doing, but went about their business acting as if they really had it all together.
As time went on, though, I began to identify less with those people and more with Gump. And this is why: Forrest Gump lived completely in the present. He did not allow himself to be encumbered by past offenses and did not harbor grudges against others. His life's narrative, as he related it to whoever would listen to him as he sat on a bench waiting for a bus, was not designed with any personal agenda in mind. When something hit him as a good thing to do, he went at it with all of his heart. And thus he succeeded in many things that others failed in because of discouragement and distraction. But there is something else that causes me to identify more with Forrest Gump.
Forrest Gump was a very aboveboard, everything-is-on-the-table kind of human being. And when dealing with others, that's the way I at least envision myself as becoming (eventually). But I recognize (as Gump didn't), that there are multiple layers of subtlety and deviousness in interpersonal relations. I simply don't want to get involved in that (while Gump simply couldn't recognize it). It's because I tend to avoid dipping down to a certain level with others that I often feel that they regard me with a condescension that resembles how Gump was treated. And do you know what? That's all right with me! I don't want to be like so many others, who live their lives out in a cloud of fear regarding their "place" within their assorted social circles and feel empowerment whenever they are privy to gossip or some underground connection. Not that I think that life is so rosy: I tend at times to be quite cynical about things. And I can dwell on my past life with misgivings (I'm very good at that). But I still see the future (for me) as focusing more on "here and now" and not "there and then". And that puts me right in line with Gump. Call it the Forrest Gump Syndrome. Or simply call it sanity.
As time went on, though, I began to identify less with those people and more with Gump. And this is why: Forrest Gump lived completely in the present. He did not allow himself to be encumbered by past offenses and did not harbor grudges against others. His life's narrative, as he related it to whoever would listen to him as he sat on a bench waiting for a bus, was not designed with any personal agenda in mind. When something hit him as a good thing to do, he went at it with all of his heart. And thus he succeeded in many things that others failed in because of discouragement and distraction. But there is something else that causes me to identify more with Forrest Gump.
Forrest Gump was a very aboveboard, everything-is-on-the-table kind of human being. And when dealing with others, that's the way I at least envision myself as becoming (eventually). But I recognize (as Gump didn't), that there are multiple layers of subtlety and deviousness in interpersonal relations. I simply don't want to get involved in that (while Gump simply couldn't recognize it). It's because I tend to avoid dipping down to a certain level with others that I often feel that they regard me with a condescension that resembles how Gump was treated. And do you know what? That's all right with me! I don't want to be like so many others, who live their lives out in a cloud of fear regarding their "place" within their assorted social circles and feel empowerment whenever they are privy to gossip or some underground connection. Not that I think that life is so rosy: I tend at times to be quite cynical about things. And I can dwell on my past life with misgivings (I'm very good at that). But I still see the future (for me) as focusing more on "here and now" and not "there and then". And that puts me right in line with Gump. Call it the Forrest Gump Syndrome. Or simply call it sanity.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Dropped Passes, Etc.
I have been following football as a spectator since 1967 and I am always amazed at a certain phenomenon of the sport (this applies to other sports as well). As you probably know, football is a very popular sport in the United States. Kids start out early in life playing sandlot football and touch or flag football at school. And then, there are organized youth football leagues that introduce them to tackle football. In junior and senior high school, most schools have football teams which filter out the best players to be on them. And then only the best players from the high school teams are able to be on college teams. And only the best players on a team can actually get out on the field and play regularly. And only those players who have exhibited supreme talent, strength, knowledge, and speed in their college football careers even remotely have a chance to be selected to be on a National Football League team. And only the best of those can actually be starters!. So, tell me, dear readers, why then do I turn my TV on and watch NFL games where players are constantly: dropping easy passes, moving on the line of scrimmage or jumping off-sides, hitting opposing players hard when they are already down or out-of-bounds, throwing awful passes, not protecting the football properly when carrying it, and foolishly mismanaging the clock at the close of a game or half? The last point applies just as strongly, if not more, to the teams' coaches!
It is as if, at each new level of an athlete's career, said athlete must completely relearn the fundamentals of the sport. But when I see a highly-paid professional receiver just out-and-out drop an easy pass, I remember me, as a little kid, never having any trouble at all hanging on to a ball once it was thrown to me. I don't mind my team being outplayed by another in a game anywhere near as much as I mind my team making stupid mistakes that they should have outgrown in high school at the latest!
It is as if, at each new level of an athlete's career, said athlete must completely relearn the fundamentals of the sport. But when I see a highly-paid professional receiver just out-and-out drop an easy pass, I remember me, as a little kid, never having any trouble at all hanging on to a ball once it was thrown to me. I don't mind my team being outplayed by another in a game anywhere near as much as I mind my team making stupid mistakes that they should have outgrown in high school at the latest!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Reading on the Eights: 12/7
I've continued my reading pace at about the same rate for the past eight weeks. I read another Isaac Asimov robot novel, The Naked Sun, which was passable but not my favorite. But it does tie in to his later Empire and Foundation series. And I have a trilogy of his Empire novels that I will be starting soon! To round out the science fiction reading, I'll say that I'm currently working on Douglas Adams's second Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, titled The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This reading has not been particularly enjoyable to me (although it's very funny) because I already know pretty much what happens, having seen the miniseries on TV a couple of decades ago.
Of course, I am continuing with my dogged pursuit of reading everything that Stephen King has published in book form. To this end, I read The Eyes of the Dragon, The Dead Zone, Insomnia, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and his short story/novella collection Skeleton Crew. Eyes of the Dragon was a short, pleasant fantasy departure, while The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a depiction of a child's scary, trying adventure lost in the wilderness, interlaced with pro-Boston Red Sox propaganda (I guess that tells you I'm not exactly a fan of theirs). The Dead Zone and Insomnia both were great, gripping novels dealing with psychic abilities descending uninvited on the protagonists. Insomnia is, maybe, the best of King's novels I've read so far. He has a heart for the elderly, and dealing with life in its latter stages takes up a great deal of the book. His Skeleton Crew collection (published in the 1980s) spans a wide range of story types. The Mist is a novella that just came out as a movie (and this spurred my interest in reading this book). I wonder if the movie will stay true to the written word, or will it diverge a lot (like Children of the Corn did). There was sci-fi (Beachworld, The Jaunt), crime/mystery (The Wedding Gig), deranged poetry (Paranoid: a Chant, For Owen), New England-oriented stories (Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, The Reach) and, of course, horror (many stories). There were four stories that stood out the most to me: The Mist, Mrs. Todds's Shortcut, Nona, and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet. The story Work Processor of the Gods seemed too similar to an old Twilight Zone episode titled A World of His Own. As a whole, Skeleton Crew was excellent. I can't wait for Stephen King's next short story collection to come out!
I also began to read Ralph Keyes's writers guide The Courage to Write (How Writers Transcend Fear). It definitely has a lot of food for thought in it!
Of course, I am continuing with my dogged pursuit of reading everything that Stephen King has published in book form. To this end, I read The Eyes of the Dragon, The Dead Zone, Insomnia, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and his short story/novella collection Skeleton Crew. Eyes of the Dragon was a short, pleasant fantasy departure, while The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a depiction of a child's scary, trying adventure lost in the wilderness, interlaced with pro-Boston Red Sox propaganda (I guess that tells you I'm not exactly a fan of theirs). The Dead Zone and Insomnia both were great, gripping novels dealing with psychic abilities descending uninvited on the protagonists. Insomnia is, maybe, the best of King's novels I've read so far. He has a heart for the elderly, and dealing with life in its latter stages takes up a great deal of the book. His Skeleton Crew collection (published in the 1980s) spans a wide range of story types. The Mist is a novella that just came out as a movie (and this spurred my interest in reading this book). I wonder if the movie will stay true to the written word, or will it diverge a lot (like Children of the Corn did). There was sci-fi (Beachworld, The Jaunt), crime/mystery (The Wedding Gig), deranged poetry (Paranoid: a Chant, For Owen), New England-oriented stories (Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, The Reach) and, of course, horror (many stories). There were four stories that stood out the most to me: The Mist, Mrs. Todds's Shortcut, Nona, and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet. The story Work Processor of the Gods seemed too similar to an old Twilight Zone episode titled A World of His Own. As a whole, Skeleton Crew was excellent. I can't wait for Stephen King's next short story collection to come out!
I also began to read Ralph Keyes's writers guide The Courage to Write (How Writers Transcend Fear). It definitely has a lot of food for thought in it!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Favorite Songs of 1995
Almost all of my favorite songs that I listened to in 1995 were played on 103.7-WRUF “Rock 104”. Like 1996, 1995 was a great year to listen to rock on the radio. But something else distracted me: I bought a copy of Soundgarden’s masterpiece Superunknown, which had actually come out in 1994. I got to like every track on it and listened to it many times. In fact, my top favorite song of 1995, My Wave, is the second track on Superunknown. Musically and lyrically, this songs still stands out as a personal favorite. Here now is the list of my favorites from 1995, as I lived through it:
More Human Than Human (White Zombie)
As I Lay Me Down (Sophie B. Hawkins)
Breakfast At Tiffany's (Deep Blue Something)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins)
1979 (Smashing Pumpkins)
Fantasy (Mariah Carey)
Geek Stink Breath (Green Day)
Hand In My Pocket (Alanis Morisette)
For Those About To Rock (A.C.-D.C.)
I Kissed A Girl (Jill Sobule)
Immortality (Pearl Jam)
In The Meantime (Spacehog)
Lump (Presidents of the U.S.A.)
My Friends (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Natural One (Folk Implosion)
One Of Us (Joan Osborne)
Possum Kingdom (Toadies)
Runaway (Janet Jackson)
Tomorrow (Silverchair)
Wonder (Natalie Merchant)
Wonderwall (Oasis)
You Oughta Know (Alanis Morisette)
December (Collective Soul)
Where The River Flows (Collective Soul)
Gel (Collective Soul)
Rain King (Counting Crows)
A Murder Of One (Counting Crows)
The Best Of What's Still Around (Dave Matthews Band)
Satellite (Dave Matthews Band)
Ants Marching (Dave Matthews Band)
Can't Cry Anymore (Sheryl Crow)
Let Me Drown (Soundgarden)
My Wave (Soundgarden)
Mailman (Soundgarden)
Superunknown (Soundgarden)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden)
Spoonman (Soundgarden)
The Day I Tried To Live (Soundgarden)
Fresh Tendrils (Soundgarden)
Dignity (Bob Dylan)
Not For You (Pearl Jam)
Corduroy (Pearl Jam)
Pearl Jams’s ode to a teacher, Corduroy, resonated with me. The Red Hot Chili Peppers came out with a unusually sad, mellow piece titled My Friends. Oasis, whom many compared to the Beatles, but sounded to me like the Zombies, brought into the musical scene their cello-enriched Wonderwall. Dave Matthews and his Band hit the big time in 1995, producing several hits, my favorites among them being Satellite and Ants Marching. Collective Soul had one of my most-liked songs of theirs this year with their relentless Where the River Flows. Bob Dylan surprised me with his touching comeback song Dignity. Mariah Carey sampled the old tune Genius of Love (by the Tom Tom Club) and came out with what I feel is her best song ever, Fantasy. I suppose that the aforementioned Chili Peppers song My Friend wins the tearjerker of the year award, but Soundgarden’s The Day I Tried to Live was pretty emotional as well.
More Human Than Human (White Zombie)
As I Lay Me Down (Sophie B. Hawkins)
Breakfast At Tiffany's (Deep Blue Something)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins)
1979 (Smashing Pumpkins)
Fantasy (Mariah Carey)
Geek Stink Breath (Green Day)
Hand In My Pocket (Alanis Morisette)
For Those About To Rock (A.C.-D.C.)
I Kissed A Girl (Jill Sobule)
Immortality (Pearl Jam)
In The Meantime (Spacehog)
Lump (Presidents of the U.S.A.)
My Friends (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Natural One (Folk Implosion)
One Of Us (Joan Osborne)
Possum Kingdom (Toadies)
Runaway (Janet Jackson)
Tomorrow (Silverchair)
Wonder (Natalie Merchant)
Wonderwall (Oasis)
You Oughta Know (Alanis Morisette)
December (Collective Soul)
Where The River Flows (Collective Soul)
Gel (Collective Soul)
Rain King (Counting Crows)
A Murder Of One (Counting Crows)
The Best Of What's Still Around (Dave Matthews Band)
Satellite (Dave Matthews Band)
Ants Marching (Dave Matthews Band)
Can't Cry Anymore (Sheryl Crow)
Let Me Drown (Soundgarden)
My Wave (Soundgarden)
Mailman (Soundgarden)
Superunknown (Soundgarden)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden)
Spoonman (Soundgarden)
The Day I Tried To Live (Soundgarden)
Fresh Tendrils (Soundgarden)
Dignity (Bob Dylan)
Not For You (Pearl Jam)
Corduroy (Pearl Jam)
Pearl Jams’s ode to a teacher, Corduroy, resonated with me. The Red Hot Chili Peppers came out with a unusually sad, mellow piece titled My Friends. Oasis, whom many compared to the Beatles, but sounded to me like the Zombies, brought into the musical scene their cello-enriched Wonderwall. Dave Matthews and his Band hit the big time in 1995, producing several hits, my favorites among them being Satellite and Ants Marching. Collective Soul had one of my most-liked songs of theirs this year with their relentless Where the River Flows. Bob Dylan surprised me with his touching comeback song Dignity. Mariah Carey sampled the old tune Genius of Love (by the Tom Tom Club) and came out with what I feel is her best song ever, Fantasy. I suppose that the aforementioned Chili Peppers song My Friend wins the tearjerker of the year award, but Soundgarden’s The Day I Tried to Live was pretty emotional as well.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Sitting Outside Starbucks
As I write this, I am sitting outside of a Starbucks in north Gainesville, Florida. It's early afternoon and I will soon be driving off to work. Outside, this is one of the most beautiful days of the year. The temperature is in the sixties (very mild for Florida) and the air is pleasantly dry. The shopping center where I'm sitting is one of those meticulously landscaped ones that have assorted varieties of trees, bushes, and ferns all around. The Starbucks inside is pretty crowded, but for some reason I'm the only one out here enjoying this weather and scenery. There is also a soothing, light, cool breeze floating in and out around me here. And the decorators have hung pretty holiday red ribbons up on the numerous lampposts throughout the shopping center (called Magnolia Parke). By the way, I discovered in life that if a place's name has an "e" stuck on the ends of words that don't normally have it, that means you're in exquisite surroundings and need to follow the "pinkie out" rule. On the other hand, if you're in someplace whose name has been deliberately misspelled with "k"'s in it (like Kwik Chek or Krispy Kreme), then you're free to act like a coarse slob!
Although the temperature is very mild, the Floridians around here are mostly walking around with sweaters or jackets. One young man just passed by wearing a jacket with the hood up, covering his head! I wonder what the folks up north, buried in snow, would think about that!
The only problem I have about this place is that, about a hundred feet behind me, NW 39 Avenue runs by. And it is very, very busy, as well as being a truck route. So it sounds a bit as if I am sitting right off the Interstate highway! No problem: if the noise gets to be too much, I have my trusty earplugs in my shirt pocket, ready for action! Well, I think I'll sign off and say farewell for now. There's a Stephen King book (Skeleton Crew) that I would like to finish reading in the next two or three days. Until tomorrow...
Although the temperature is very mild, the Floridians around here are mostly walking around with sweaters or jackets. One young man just passed by wearing a jacket with the hood up, covering his head! I wonder what the folks up north, buried in snow, would think about that!
The only problem I have about this place is that, about a hundred feet behind me, NW 39 Avenue runs by. And it is very, very busy, as well as being a truck route. So it sounds a bit as if I am sitting right off the Interstate highway! No problem: if the noise gets to be too much, I have my trusty earplugs in my shirt pocket, ready for action! Well, I think I'll sign off and say farewell for now. There's a Stephen King book (Skeleton Crew) that I would like to finish reading in the next two or three days. Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Eighty-Twenty, Best-Angry
From time to time, I've come across a reference to the "80-20 rule". What is it? Simply that, as a gross generality, 80% of the work in a given situation is actually performed by about 20% of the people involved. The question is, how true is this statement?
I'll be the first to admit that I've been in situations where there was a lot of work to be done and there were also a lot of slackers who didn't want to work hard to accomplish it. Then I, along with a small number of fellow hard-workers, would get the job done. And it would make me angry, because those in charge would never seem to punish those who wouldn't contribute their fair share of the work. I've discovered that this injustice is much more prevalent in loose, informally-run work situations. I have also worked in a highly-structured work environment, where each worker was assigned specific tasks that they were individually held accountable for accomplishing. In these situations, the 80-20 rule fell apart, and there was more of an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect among the employees. So, you may have correctly guessed that I prefer to work in such a highly organized work setting.
Besides the 80-20 rule, there is another rule that I have noticed by myself, and hence I don't have any spiffy sort of name for it. I'll just call it the "best-angry" rule. You see, on the other extreme of the spectrum from the lazy employee is the diligent, perfectionist worker whose personal impulse in the workplace is to be absolutely the best worker of all there. If it just stopped there, then that would be O.K. with me. But all too often, such a worker will then turn around and angrily express contempt for other workers not living up to this worker's exceptionally high self-imposed standards. Which pretty much comprises almost everyone in the work force! I appreciate hard-working colleagues, but they sometimes need to practice a little professional detachment in regard to judging others.
The "80-20" and "best-angry" rules permeate all places that I have worked for any amount of time. But the less structured the job assignments are, the more pronounced their negative effects are as well. Those in managerial positions would be well-advised to recognize these two pitfalls and to take care that they don't take too strong of a hold in the workplace.
I'll be the first to admit that I've been in situations where there was a lot of work to be done and there were also a lot of slackers who didn't want to work hard to accomplish it. Then I, along with a small number of fellow hard-workers, would get the job done. And it would make me angry, because those in charge would never seem to punish those who wouldn't contribute their fair share of the work. I've discovered that this injustice is much more prevalent in loose, informally-run work situations. I have also worked in a highly-structured work environment, where each worker was assigned specific tasks that they were individually held accountable for accomplishing. In these situations, the 80-20 rule fell apart, and there was more of an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect among the employees. So, you may have correctly guessed that I prefer to work in such a highly organized work setting.
Besides the 80-20 rule, there is another rule that I have noticed by myself, and hence I don't have any spiffy sort of name for it. I'll just call it the "best-angry" rule. You see, on the other extreme of the spectrum from the lazy employee is the diligent, perfectionist worker whose personal impulse in the workplace is to be absolutely the best worker of all there. If it just stopped there, then that would be O.K. with me. But all too often, such a worker will then turn around and angrily express contempt for other workers not living up to this worker's exceptionally high self-imposed standards. Which pretty much comprises almost everyone in the work force! I appreciate hard-working colleagues, but they sometimes need to practice a little professional detachment in regard to judging others.
The "80-20" and "best-angry" rules permeate all places that I have worked for any amount of time. But the less structured the job assignments are, the more pronounced their negative effects are as well. Those in managerial positions would be well-advised to recognize these two pitfalls and to take care that they don't take too strong of a hold in the workplace.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Monday Newsbreak: 12/3
--The media is portraying Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as having gone over the edge in pursuing political power as well as meddling in the affairs of other countries. Personally, I see that he has a messiah complex and views others in a straight-up-and-down way. If you agree with Mr. Chavez, then you are a "good" person, and if you disagree with him, you are "bad". Hugo Chavez, in his own mind, is so good for his country that he apparently intends to lead it for the remainder of his life! It's too bad that this individual has turned out to be such a megalomaniac, because I believe that some of the issues he embraces are important. It's crucial for political leaders to serve the interests of their countries' masses, not just the elite classes. But they don't have to be so full of themselves in the process, as Mr. Chavez is.
--There is a push in Florida, spearheaded by Governor Charlie Crist, to raise the Homestead Exemption for property taxes. The issue will be decided at a January 29 referendum. With skyrocketing real estate appraisals in Florida in recent years, I believe that it is imperative to bring the Homestead Exemption up to current times. Otherwise, many homeowners will lose their properties due to their inability to pay their ballooning property taxes. Local governments oppose increasing the Exemption, but it's been my experience, at least from watching my own city and county commissions on TV, that local officials tend to be arrogant know-it-alls who tend to regard those whom they are elected to serve as somewhat lesser persons. And they are addicted to their pet projects and the people's tax contributions that they want to fund them with.
--Quite often, before two good football teams clash on the field, some of the players will go to the press and put down their opponent, just to get something going between the two teams. But before the New York Jets were to play the Miami Dolphins yesterday, Jets defensive end David Bowens said (of the Dolphins), "Just because they're 0-11 doesn't mean they aren't a good team." OUCH, that hurts! Oh, by the way, the Jets crushed Miami, 40-13.
--While looking in my Gainesville Sun sports section for local sporting event results that weren't there, I came across the NHL hockey standings (that few people actually care about). I noticed that most of the teams had winning records, and even those trailing their divisions had pretty good win-loss ratios. Then I discovered that, while an overtime win counted in the "win" column, an overtime loss didn't actually count as a "loss" but was put into an third category called "OT". I suppose they did this ridiculous repackaging of the standings to try to generate more fan interest in mediocre teams after the disastrous "non-season" a couple of years ago (which enabled the Tampa Bay Lightning to be defending Stanley Cup Champions for two whole years)!
--There is a push in Florida, spearheaded by Governor Charlie Crist, to raise the Homestead Exemption for property taxes. The issue will be decided at a January 29 referendum. With skyrocketing real estate appraisals in Florida in recent years, I believe that it is imperative to bring the Homestead Exemption up to current times. Otherwise, many homeowners will lose their properties due to their inability to pay their ballooning property taxes. Local governments oppose increasing the Exemption, but it's been my experience, at least from watching my own city and county commissions on TV, that local officials tend to be arrogant know-it-alls who tend to regard those whom they are elected to serve as somewhat lesser persons. And they are addicted to their pet projects and the people's tax contributions that they want to fund them with.
--Quite often, before two good football teams clash on the field, some of the players will go to the press and put down their opponent, just to get something going between the two teams. But before the New York Jets were to play the Miami Dolphins yesterday, Jets defensive end David Bowens said (of the Dolphins), "Just because they're 0-11 doesn't mean they aren't a good team." OUCH, that hurts! Oh, by the way, the Jets crushed Miami, 40-13.
--While looking in my Gainesville Sun sports section for local sporting event results that weren't there, I came across the NHL hockey standings (that few people actually care about). I noticed that most of the teams had winning records, and even those trailing their divisions had pretty good win-loss ratios. Then I discovered that, while an overtime win counted in the "win" column, an overtime loss didn't actually count as a "loss" but was put into an third category called "OT". I suppose they did this ridiculous repackaging of the standings to try to generate more fan interest in mediocre teams after the disastrous "non-season" a couple of years ago (which enabled the Tampa Bay Lightning to be defending Stanley Cup Champions for two whole years)!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Andrew Meyer and Ron Paul
I was recently looking through this past Friday's edition of The Independent Florida Alligator when I ran across an opinion piece by Andrew "Don't Tase Me Bro" Meyer. Apparently, Mr. Meyer has decided to go ahead and use his First Amendment rights to express himself freely after all. Good for him, and good for the rest of us as well! But we'll see if our illustrious local prosecutors decide to get aggressive with Andrew should he ever express something not to their personal liking (such as saying that he wasn't sorry after all)!
Meyer basically wrote his article to extol Republican candidate for President Ron Paul. Although a member of the GOP, Paul expresses liberal Democratic ideas on several issues. Still, he subscribes to a more Libertarian, laissez-faire creed when it comes to the economy. For Meyer, the most important issues that he supports Paul for is the candidate's adamant opposition to American military involvement in Iraq and in other parts of the world as well as his professed vehement support of the U.S Constitution, particularly in the application of its Bill of Rights. Paul's candidacy sounds eerily a bit like Democrat Howard Dean's four years ago in that he had built his campaign largely on the Internet.
Ron Paul sounds to me like a pretty decent fellow. And he may or may not make a pretty decent President. However, one person alone does not make up the entire Executive Branch, and whoever gets elected as President is bound to bring in members of his own party to fill in most of the important policy-making positions, especially in the Cabinet. And you can rest assured that, if Paul brings in his fellow Republicans, then his administration will contain many who oppose him on some of the important issues that would have gotten him elected.
Wouldn't it make more sense to support a candidate whose opinions largely resonate within his or her own political party? If someone like Barack Obama were elected as President, I am fairly confident that his administration would be mostly composed of those with whom he is philosophically in agreement regarding the proper function of government within society, as well as the best way for America to promote its interests across the world. A Paul Presidency, on the other hand, by the very "maverick" nature of the candidate, would be problematic: his own party would be deeply divided, and he would still have to deal with the Democrats as an opposition party. This, to me, would make for a dangerously weak Presidency. Why not just let one party stand for the conservative viewpoint, the other the liberal viewpoint, and let us voters decide which direction we want to go in? Although I don't agree with Andrew Meyer's promotion of Ron Paul, I do appreciate his comments and look forward to more in the future.
Meyer basically wrote his article to extol Republican candidate for President Ron Paul. Although a member of the GOP, Paul expresses liberal Democratic ideas on several issues. Still, he subscribes to a more Libertarian, laissez-faire creed when it comes to the economy. For Meyer, the most important issues that he supports Paul for is the candidate's adamant opposition to American military involvement in Iraq and in other parts of the world as well as his professed vehement support of the U.S Constitution, particularly in the application of its Bill of Rights. Paul's candidacy sounds eerily a bit like Democrat Howard Dean's four years ago in that he had built his campaign largely on the Internet.
Ron Paul sounds to me like a pretty decent fellow. And he may or may not make a pretty decent President. However, one person alone does not make up the entire Executive Branch, and whoever gets elected as President is bound to bring in members of his own party to fill in most of the important policy-making positions, especially in the Cabinet. And you can rest assured that, if Paul brings in his fellow Republicans, then his administration will contain many who oppose him on some of the important issues that would have gotten him elected.
Wouldn't it make more sense to support a candidate whose opinions largely resonate within his or her own political party? If someone like Barack Obama were elected as President, I am fairly confident that his administration would be mostly composed of those with whom he is philosophically in agreement regarding the proper function of government within society, as well as the best way for America to promote its interests across the world. A Paul Presidency, on the other hand, by the very "maverick" nature of the candidate, would be problematic: his own party would be deeply divided, and he would still have to deal with the Democrats as an opposition party. This, to me, would make for a dangerously weak Presidency. Why not just let one party stand for the conservative viewpoint, the other the liberal viewpoint, and let us voters decide which direction we want to go in? Although I don't agree with Andrew Meyer's promotion of Ron Paul, I do appreciate his comments and look forward to more in the future.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Busy December
Seeing that I'm going to be very busy at my job this month, I may not have the same opportunities to write daily entries for this blog that I've had up until now. But I'll give it my best shot, although the articles may sometimes be pretty short (like this one, for example). After Christmas, though, my writing should pick up a bit.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Graveyard Shift
A report has just come out by an agency affiliated with the World Health Organization that links working the late-night "graveyard" shift with certain types of cancer (breast and prostate). The relationship is not certain: although there is a correlation between the graveyard shift and cancer, there may be a third, as yet undiscovered factor causing the increased likelihood of cancer that may correlate somehow with working late nights/early mornings.
When I was much younger, I felt that it would be cool to be up and about when most of the world (around me) was asleep. I'm not exactly the kind of person disposed toward being around crowds, and being awake when there were fewer people around was appealing. Plus, being off during the daytime and evening would give me a great amount of flexibility with regard to attending events without this conflicting with my work schedule. But the opportunity for me to radically change my sleeping patterns on a regular basis didn't occur until I began to work at the post office, which employs a large percentage of its enormous work force in the wee hours of the morning handling, sorting, and preparing mail for the next day's delivery. With only a gap of a little less than a year in 1995-96, I spent from late-1987 to mid-2003 working the graveyard shift as a clerk at my local post office. I noticed no serious ill effects from this tenure, but there were some disturbing effects nevertheless. For one thing, I seemed to come down with colds and sinus infections much more often. I also experienced something I call "chronic sleepiness", and this did not bode well for either my driving or my family relationships. And it was hard for me to get used to sleeping in the day, when the general noise level, along with myriad opportunities for distractions, ran rampant. As a matter of fact, I would always sleep nights whenever I had a day off, my body somehow desperately trying to reestablish its "circadian" sleep rhythms. Finally, by 2003, I was having a great amount of difficulty getting all the way through my "work day", with me starting to fade around 4 AM. So I was able to change my schedule to one where I began my shift in mid-afternoon and got off at midnight. Much, much better! Looking back on it, I am amazed at how long I was able to go on working the graveyard shift as I did. But now, whenever I occasionally am required to work overtime until 2 AM, even that little amount of "graveyard" work takes a toll on me! Hopefully, no long-term health consequences will have arisen out of the many years that I plodded through on the graveyard shift.
When I was much younger, I felt that it would be cool to be up and about when most of the world (around me) was asleep. I'm not exactly the kind of person disposed toward being around crowds, and being awake when there were fewer people around was appealing. Plus, being off during the daytime and evening would give me a great amount of flexibility with regard to attending events without this conflicting with my work schedule. But the opportunity for me to radically change my sleeping patterns on a regular basis didn't occur until I began to work at the post office, which employs a large percentage of its enormous work force in the wee hours of the morning handling, sorting, and preparing mail for the next day's delivery. With only a gap of a little less than a year in 1995-96, I spent from late-1987 to mid-2003 working the graveyard shift as a clerk at my local post office. I noticed no serious ill effects from this tenure, but there were some disturbing effects nevertheless. For one thing, I seemed to come down with colds and sinus infections much more often. I also experienced something I call "chronic sleepiness", and this did not bode well for either my driving or my family relationships. And it was hard for me to get used to sleeping in the day, when the general noise level, along with myriad opportunities for distractions, ran rampant. As a matter of fact, I would always sleep nights whenever I had a day off, my body somehow desperately trying to reestablish its "circadian" sleep rhythms. Finally, by 2003, I was having a great amount of difficulty getting all the way through my "work day", with me starting to fade around 4 AM. So I was able to change my schedule to one where I began my shift in mid-afternoon and got off at midnight. Much, much better! Looking back on it, I am amazed at how long I was able to go on working the graveyard shift as I did. But now, whenever I occasionally am required to work overtime until 2 AM, even that little amount of "graveyard" work takes a toll on me! Hopefully, no long-term health consequences will have arisen out of the many years that I plodded through on the graveyard shift.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Honesty Vs. Self-Censorship In Writing
I remember once seeing an episode of the series Newhart where the character played by Bob Newhart had just had his newly written novel published. And lo and behold! It seemed that each of the characters in it bore uncanny resemblances to Newhart’s family and friends. The whole hilarious episode centered around various people confronting him with his portrayal of them (and their angry objections).
I just recently purchased and have begun to read a book titled The Courage to Write (How Writers Transcend Fear) by Ralph Keyes, a writing teacher who has written several books on the subject. One of the points that Keyes makes in it is that honest writers will usually, without any intention of doing so, at one time or another offend someone they know with their writing. This may or may not be an overt, obvious sort of thing, but in truth, a writer’s chief (by far) source of any information (and that includes of characters) is from his or her own memory and experiences. Keyes related several examples of authors who had to deal with angry relatives and friends who identified themselves (in their opinions, unflatteringly) in published novels and stories. But Keyes stresses that an honest writer will not let this external pressure for self-censoring limit what is a sincere expression of what he or she really feels.
I’m a little concerned that, eventually, people who know me and find out that I am writing this blog may suspect that I’m going to use it as an exposé on them in some way. In truth, I’ve been at it since early April and feel that nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve deliberately avoided tackling some very sensitive, difficult topics precisely and solely because I was concerned about the privacy and feelings of others. But since I don’t live in insulated isolation from others, my own experiences and feelings, some of which I would like to (and have a right to) write about inevitably touch upon certain people, and they will be mentioned as diplomatically and discretely as possible (or not mentioned at all). So, I am really going “above and beyond” in respecting others whom I know with this blog (unless, of course, they are public figures about whom I am writing). When I finally get down to writing fictional stories to submit for publication, though, I intend to follow Keyes’s advice and be a “courageous writer”. But as Keyes also stressed, each writer needs to come to sort of peace within himself about how to tackle this area. And, quite frankly, I don’t know exactly how my characters will reflect upon real-life people I know. But my instincts tell me that what will most likely occur is that I may take a bit from one person and mix it with traits from others (and from my own imagination) to create unique, special characters, quite unlike the comic “Newhart” scenario.
I just recently purchased and have begun to read a book titled The Courage to Write (How Writers Transcend Fear) by Ralph Keyes, a writing teacher who has written several books on the subject. One of the points that Keyes makes in it is that honest writers will usually, without any intention of doing so, at one time or another offend someone they know with their writing. This may or may not be an overt, obvious sort of thing, but in truth, a writer’s chief (by far) source of any information (and that includes of characters) is from his or her own memory and experiences. Keyes related several examples of authors who had to deal with angry relatives and friends who identified themselves (in their opinions, unflatteringly) in published novels and stories. But Keyes stresses that an honest writer will not let this external pressure for self-censoring limit what is a sincere expression of what he or she really feels.
I’m a little concerned that, eventually, people who know me and find out that I am writing this blog may suspect that I’m going to use it as an exposé on them in some way. In truth, I’ve been at it since early April and feel that nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve deliberately avoided tackling some very sensitive, difficult topics precisely and solely because I was concerned about the privacy and feelings of others. But since I don’t live in insulated isolation from others, my own experiences and feelings, some of which I would like to (and have a right to) write about inevitably touch upon certain people, and they will be mentioned as diplomatically and discretely as possible (or not mentioned at all). So, I am really going “above and beyond” in respecting others whom I know with this blog (unless, of course, they are public figures about whom I am writing). When I finally get down to writing fictional stories to submit for publication, though, I intend to follow Keyes’s advice and be a “courageous writer”. But as Keyes also stressed, each writer needs to come to sort of peace within himself about how to tackle this area. And, quite frankly, I don’t know exactly how my characters will reflect upon real-life people I know. But my instincts tell me that what will most likely occur is that I may take a bit from one person and mix it with traits from others (and from my own imagination) to create unique, special characters, quite unlike the comic “Newhart” scenario.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Foreign Languages on the Eights: 11/27
For the past eight weeks, I've been studying Vietnamese using Robert M. Quinn's Beginner's Vietnamese (Hippocrene Books, 1995). I have finished the first nine chapters of this thirty-lesson text. I need to pick up my pace, though. Most of the vocabulary I've encountered has been very familiar, but there are "new" words as well. Vietnamese is an analytic language, meaning that I don't have to spend time learning declensions and conjugations. Nor do I have to concern myself with word roots changing on me. Vietnamese expresses its grammatical functions through syntax, and Quinn provides plenty of syntactic practice with each lesson. My problem is that Vietnamese is a tonal language, and I'm still not too clear on how various words are pronounced according to their intonation. Also, their vowels are pronounced a little differently from English, and I need an audio model to demonstrate the differences. Also, I need to begin assembling a personal vocabulary list that references where I first learned each word. Of course, with Vietnamese, I learned many of the words in the period of 1979-1982, so I'm just going to "pretend" that I just learned them for the first time with the Quinn book.
Another facet of my foreign language study has been to listen daily to news broadcasts in my "designated" languages, either from Webcasts or from my television (with Spanish). In this area, I have been too lax. I need to set aside some more time for listening, as it does give me a good sense of how the various languages flow (not to mention training me to listening to them more quickly).
As I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I'm not exactly a whiz at computers, and I haven't been able to download a Vietnamese font to write it. Although Vietnamese uses a Romanized script (in spite of its many Chinese loan words), specially-modified nouns and numerous diacritics and tonal markers make it rather cumbersome to write out. And I wouldn't be doing it justice to attempt writing in it using the ordinary fonts that I employ in this blog. But it would be pretty cool, once I've downloaded a Vietnamese font and figured out the keyboard layout, to write a short composition in Vietnamese using my already-learned vocabulary. Maybe eight weeks from now...
Another facet of my foreign language study has been to listen daily to news broadcasts in my "designated" languages, either from Webcasts or from my television (with Spanish). In this area, I have been too lax. I need to set aside some more time for listening, as it does give me a good sense of how the various languages flow (not to mention training me to listening to them more quickly).
As I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I'm not exactly a whiz at computers, and I haven't been able to download a Vietnamese font to write it. Although Vietnamese uses a Romanized script (in spite of its many Chinese loan words), specially-modified nouns and numerous diacritics and tonal markers make it rather cumbersome to write out. And I wouldn't be doing it justice to attempt writing in it using the ordinary fonts that I employ in this blog. But it would be pretty cool, once I've downloaded a Vietnamese font and figured out the keyboard layout, to write a short composition in Vietnamese using my already-learned vocabulary. Maybe eight weeks from now...
Favorite Songs of 1996
1996 was, to me, the last truly great year for mainstream rock and roll. I could just tune my radio in to 103.7-WRUF “Rock 104” and leave it on all night long, without worrying about having to hear really atrocious music (which is, unfortunately, too often the case nowadays). Well, here’s my somewhat long list of favorites from 1996, as I lived through it:
Free As A Bird (Beatles)
Aeroplane (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Always Be My Baby (Mariah Carey)
Bulls On Parade (Rage Against the Machine)
Flood (Jars of Clay)
Humans Being (Van Halen)
I Got Id (Pearl Jam)
Ironic (Alanis Morisette)
Macarena (Los del Rio)
Novocaine For The Soul (Eels)
Only Happy When It Rains (Garbage)
Pepper (B. Surfers)
Ready To Go (Republica)
Standing Outside A Broke Phone Booth... (Primitive Radio Gods)
Stinkfist (Tool)
Stupid Girl (Garbage)
Tahitian Moon (Porno for Pyros)
Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins)
What I Got (Sublime)
Where It's At (Beck)
Who Will Save Your Soul (Jewel)
You Learn (Alanis Morisette)
Zero (Smashing Pumpkins)
Burden In My Hand (Soundgarden)
Boot Camp (Soundgarden)
Undertow (REM)
E-Bow The Letter (REM)
Electrolyte (REM)
How The West Was Won (& Where It Got Us) (REM)
Angels Of The Silences (Counting Crows)
Every Day Is A Winding Road (Sheryl Crow)
So Much To Say (Dave Matthews Band)
Crash Into Me (Dave Matthews Band)
Too Much (Dave Matthews Band)
Tripping Billies (Dave Matthews Band)
Machinehead (Bush)
Greedy Fly (Bush)
The Chanuka Song (Adam Sandler)
I Stick Around (Foo Fighters)
Alone And Easy Target (Foo Fighters)
Exhausted (Foo Fighters)
Grind (Alice in Chains)
Again (Alice in Chains)
Big Bang Baby (Stone Temple Pilots)
My top favorite of the year was Alice in Chains’s beautifully angry, anguished song Again. Following close on its heals was Novocaine for the Soul by the Eels. Since then, this song has climbed up to be #5 on my all-time list. Right behind Novocaine was Stupid Girl by Garbage, a now-resurgent group fronted by vocalist Shirley Manson, who really knows how to belt out a tune. Stone Temple Pilots came out with Big Bang Baby, their rousing parody of 60’s music (the video is one of the funniest I’ve ever seen). REM plunged deeply into despair with E-Bow the Letter. And the tearjerker of the year award goes to Pearl Jam for their euphemistically-titled I Got Id.
Free As A Bird (Beatles)
Aeroplane (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Always Be My Baby (Mariah Carey)
Bulls On Parade (Rage Against the Machine)
Flood (Jars of Clay)
Humans Being (Van Halen)
I Got Id (Pearl Jam)
Ironic (Alanis Morisette)
Macarena (Los del Rio)
Novocaine For The Soul (Eels)
Only Happy When It Rains (Garbage)
Pepper (B. Surfers)
Ready To Go (Republica)
Standing Outside A Broke Phone Booth... (Primitive Radio Gods)
Stinkfist (Tool)
Stupid Girl (Garbage)
Tahitian Moon (Porno for Pyros)
Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins)
What I Got (Sublime)
Where It's At (Beck)
Who Will Save Your Soul (Jewel)
You Learn (Alanis Morisette)
Zero (Smashing Pumpkins)
Burden In My Hand (Soundgarden)
Boot Camp (Soundgarden)
Undertow (REM)
E-Bow The Letter (REM)
Electrolyte (REM)
How The West Was Won (& Where It Got Us) (REM)
Angels Of The Silences (Counting Crows)
Every Day Is A Winding Road (Sheryl Crow)
So Much To Say (Dave Matthews Band)
Crash Into Me (Dave Matthews Band)
Too Much (Dave Matthews Band)
Tripping Billies (Dave Matthews Band)
Machinehead (Bush)
Greedy Fly (Bush)
The Chanuka Song (Adam Sandler)
I Stick Around (Foo Fighters)
Alone And Easy Target (Foo Fighters)
Exhausted (Foo Fighters)
Grind (Alice in Chains)
Again (Alice in Chains)
Big Bang Baby (Stone Temple Pilots)
My top favorite of the year was Alice in Chains’s beautifully angry, anguished song Again. Following close on its heals was Novocaine for the Soul by the Eels. Since then, this song has climbed up to be #5 on my all-time list. Right behind Novocaine was Stupid Girl by Garbage, a now-resurgent group fronted by vocalist Shirley Manson, who really knows how to belt out a tune. Stone Temple Pilots came out with Big Bang Baby, their rousing parody of 60’s music (the video is one of the funniest I’ve ever seen). REM plunged deeply into despair with E-Bow the Letter. And the tearjerker of the year award goes to Pearl Jam for their euphemistically-titled I Got Id.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Monday Newsbreak: 11/26
--It looks as if fires have broken out again in the coastal California area around Malibu, although the damage is nowhere as widespread as it was a few weeks ago in southern California. My area in northern Florida is also prone to fires from time to time. A few months ago, fires in southern Georgia caused almost unbreathable conditions in much of northern Florida. When the wind shifted, Atlanta had some serious emergencies with some people who couldn't breathe well. So it's not just the people who build their homes out in high-fire potential areas who are affected.
--Ten-year Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his party were convincingly turned out of office and replaced with Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party. Rudd has promised to withdraw the token Australian force in Iraq. But more importantly, he said that his administration would support ratification of the Kyoto agreement , designed to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ameliorate the global warming crisis. Meanwhile, extreme right-wing corporate hack Sean Hannity is filling up his air time claiming that global warming isn't really happening, but if it is, it's caused by increased solar activity. Anything to avoid conceding a point to Al Gore!
--Tragedy struck downtown Gainesville during the very early Sunday morning hours in the form of a senseless, random murder. A Tallahassee man who, along with his brother, had visited Gainesville for the Saturday UF-FSU football game, was leaving a downtown parking garage when he was shot to death by someone in the garage. Video cameras caught the perpetrator as he was fleeing the garage, and the victim's brother witnessed the murder. So I ask, where was the security? You mean to tell me that they don't provide security for these parking garages, with all of the money that they rake in from them? I think that I'll just take my chances parking alongside curbs.
--The Florida Gators football team ended their regular season on a successful note by handling their cross-state rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, 45-12. It's a little sad for me to see both FSU and Miami having tough seasons, but maybe this is just a dip that will be corrected in the near future. I was happy to see the Tennessee Vols hold on to beat Kentucky in multiple overtimes, 52-50, to gain a shot at LSU for the SEC title. Since the Tigers blew a chance at a national championship with their loss to Arkansas this past week, I'm just going to stick with good ol' Coach Phillip Fulmer in his quest to lead Tennessee to steal the crown from the favorites!
--Ten-year Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his party were convincingly turned out of office and replaced with Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party. Rudd has promised to withdraw the token Australian force in Iraq. But more importantly, he said that his administration would support ratification of the Kyoto agreement , designed to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ameliorate the global warming crisis. Meanwhile, extreme right-wing corporate hack Sean Hannity is filling up his air time claiming that global warming isn't really happening, but if it is, it's caused by increased solar activity. Anything to avoid conceding a point to Al Gore!
--Tragedy struck downtown Gainesville during the very early Sunday morning hours in the form of a senseless, random murder. A Tallahassee man who, along with his brother, had visited Gainesville for the Saturday UF-FSU football game, was leaving a downtown parking garage when he was shot to death by someone in the garage. Video cameras caught the perpetrator as he was fleeing the garage, and the victim's brother witnessed the murder. So I ask, where was the security? You mean to tell me that they don't provide security for these parking garages, with all of the money that they rake in from them? I think that I'll just take my chances parking alongside curbs.
--The Florida Gators football team ended their regular season on a successful note by handling their cross-state rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, 45-12. It's a little sad for me to see both FSU and Miami having tough seasons, but maybe this is just a dip that will be corrected in the near future. I was happy to see the Tennessee Vols hold on to beat Kentucky in multiple overtimes, 52-50, to gain a shot at LSU for the SEC title. Since the Tigers blew a chance at a national championship with their loss to Arkansas this past week, I'm just going to stick with good ol' Coach Phillip Fulmer in his quest to lead Tennessee to steal the crown from the favorites!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Personal Narratives
Do you have your own life story? I do, and I imagine that most everyone does, at least those who have grown out of childhood. It takes form in a sort of narrative that we use to filter our ongoing experiences through. If something happens to me that affirms some aspect of my personal narrative, then I just add it to the "big story". And if something happens that runs counter to my "lessons-learned", then I tend to toss it aside as irrelevant. This is, of course an essentially dishonest process that I commit against myself. But it was not how I started out.
When I was a little child, I took everything in, noticing the kinds of things that, as an adult, I take very little interest in. For example, when I used to go to the local Kwik Chek grocery store with my parents, I got to know every decoration in the store, not to mention the colors of the walls as well as many other features that would carry little functional use as an adult. As I became older, I would choose to ignore those things that didn't contribute to the increasingly confined agenda of choices that I would be making in different situations. One of the upshots of this is that I have more vivid, complete memories of places from early childhood than I do of places I frequent nowadays. Living according to a personal narrative has caused me to ignore much of the reality around me that I unconsciously regard as irrelevant.
Another aspect of living according to a personal narrative is that it makes one less receptive to others' life narratives. As an adult, I've found that the idea of "getting to know somebody" essentially entails me just sitting back and letting them pour out their life's "story" to me, with very little room for me to actively participate in a meaningful dialogue. Even if I interject a comment pertaining to my "narrator's" story, they are more likely than not to object, no doubt holding that I have no business intruding on such a sacred thing as their great, personally unique story. Personally, I also, at times, feel an urge to "spill the beans" with another about my life's experiences and philosophy. But effectively mitigating against this is the simple fact that people in general aren't really interested in hearing about my precious (to me) narrative. It's all about them, don't you know!
The truth is that, while I habitually tend to react to things based on a rather "chipped-shoulder" personal narrative, part of me wants to be fully liberated from this type of mental and emotional self-imprisonment. And to this extent, writing a blog like this is very therapeutic. For although I put a personal touch on my entries, I've tried, for the most part, to be outward-looking and positive in writing it. Sure, I have all kinds of personal issues that I could vent and rant about. But that would not be very interesting to my readers, and it would only serve to affirm habits of self-doubt and self-pity that I am determined to change.
When I was a little child, I took everything in, noticing the kinds of things that, as an adult, I take very little interest in. For example, when I used to go to the local Kwik Chek grocery store with my parents, I got to know every decoration in the store, not to mention the colors of the walls as well as many other features that would carry little functional use as an adult. As I became older, I would choose to ignore those things that didn't contribute to the increasingly confined agenda of choices that I would be making in different situations. One of the upshots of this is that I have more vivid, complete memories of places from early childhood than I do of places I frequent nowadays. Living according to a personal narrative has caused me to ignore much of the reality around me that I unconsciously regard as irrelevant.
Another aspect of living according to a personal narrative is that it makes one less receptive to others' life narratives. As an adult, I've found that the idea of "getting to know somebody" essentially entails me just sitting back and letting them pour out their life's "story" to me, with very little room for me to actively participate in a meaningful dialogue. Even if I interject a comment pertaining to my "narrator's" story, they are more likely than not to object, no doubt holding that I have no business intruding on such a sacred thing as their great, personally unique story. Personally, I also, at times, feel an urge to "spill the beans" with another about my life's experiences and philosophy. But effectively mitigating against this is the simple fact that people in general aren't really interested in hearing about my precious (to me) narrative. It's all about them, don't you know!
The truth is that, while I habitually tend to react to things based on a rather "chipped-shoulder" personal narrative, part of me wants to be fully liberated from this type of mental and emotional self-imprisonment. And to this extent, writing a blog like this is very therapeutic. For although I put a personal touch on my entries, I've tried, for the most part, to be outward-looking and positive in writing it. Sure, I have all kinds of personal issues that I could vent and rant about. But that would not be very interesting to my readers, and it would only serve to affirm habits of self-doubt and self-pity that I am determined to change.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Overtraining in Running
When I began to write this blog this past spring, I discovered that there were quite a few bloggers out there who were devoted to running and recording their experiences on their blogs. Almost all of them were competitive runners who put in rather strenuous training routines, some more than others. Their ages varied quite a bit, as well as what they wanted to ultimately get out of running. For the most part, though, I sensed a certain culture of competitiveness that pervaded the blogs. It was almost as if the blogs themselves helped them to work out even harder.
I did notice, though, that after a while, many of them came to suffer various injuries (mostly foot, ankle, leg, and knee) that effectively put them out of action for a while. During recovery, they'd often keep their blogs going (but sometimes they'd stop it) and remonstrate about had tough it was to be inactive while they recovered. Then they'd pretty much have to start all over with their training, which they'd, once again, go at with the same zeal as before.
Now I know, from personal experience, how alluring the idea of excelling in a competitive running race can be. And it can be a great incentive for training if I see, sometime in the not-to-distant future, a race that I'd like to enter and run in. But I have to draw the line somewhere and realize that running is for me and not the reverse. When I first resumed running this past spring, I overdid my training a bit and strained some ligaments in my right foot. After recuperating, I decided to take things much easier. Originally planning to run (eventually) every day, I've instead pretty much limited my workouts to two or three times per week. And yet I seem to be stronger and faster because of this! My philosophy is now to enjoy running and make it a more gradual, enduring part of my life.
Maybe I'll enter some of those running races in the future. But my emphasis will be not to overtrain for anything. Even should I decide to enter a race in the future, I'm determined to train just as I've become used to. I have much more meaningful (for myself) goals with running, and they don't necessarily translate into the "Runner's World" culture that so many others rabidly buy into. And, hopefully, by this I'll also be able to further avoid the avoidable kinds of injuries that others suffer because of their overtraining.
I did notice, though, that after a while, many of them came to suffer various injuries (mostly foot, ankle, leg, and knee) that effectively put them out of action for a while. During recovery, they'd often keep their blogs going (but sometimes they'd stop it) and remonstrate about had tough it was to be inactive while they recovered. Then they'd pretty much have to start all over with their training, which they'd, once again, go at with the same zeal as before.
Now I know, from personal experience, how alluring the idea of excelling in a competitive running race can be. And it can be a great incentive for training if I see, sometime in the not-to-distant future, a race that I'd like to enter and run in. But I have to draw the line somewhere and realize that running is for me and not the reverse. When I first resumed running this past spring, I overdid my training a bit and strained some ligaments in my right foot. After recuperating, I decided to take things much easier. Originally planning to run (eventually) every day, I've instead pretty much limited my workouts to two or three times per week. And yet I seem to be stronger and faster because of this! My philosophy is now to enjoy running and make it a more gradual, enduring part of my life.
Maybe I'll enter some of those running races in the future. But my emphasis will be not to overtrain for anything. Even should I decide to enter a race in the future, I'm determined to train just as I've become used to. I have much more meaningful (for myself) goals with running, and they don't necessarily translate into the "Runner's World" culture that so many others rabidly buy into. And, hopefully, by this I'll also be able to further avoid the avoidable kinds of injuries that others suffer because of their overtraining.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Otherland
One of the more overlooked science fiction series over the past few years is Tad Williams' remarkable four-volume work titled Otherland. While Williams is widely known as a fantasy writer, this work is pure science fiction. The first book in the series came out in 1996, well before The Matrix hit the big screen. I say this because there are several uncanny similarities between the two stories, although they ultimately differ vastly in terms of plot and message.
Otherland is set one hundred years in a future dominated by virtual technology. Instead of using screens, (Inter)net users simply "enter" areas that they want to explore. And in many areas, particularly in the gaming, tourist, and shopping zones, the experience closely imitates the feeling of being in a real, albeit sometimes bizarre other place. The problem, which leads to several mysteries and a Tolkienesque "quest", is that a number of children who were using the net have suddenly and inexplicably fallen into comas. When this tragedy touches upon the life of the main character, South African Renie Sulaweyo, she, along with her Bushman friend !Xabbu, embark on a harrowing journey of discovery and rescue. Along the way, other characters are introduced: a lost Englishman by the name of Paul Jonas, a precocious American boy named Orlando, and a mysterious but apparently benevolent old man called Mr. Sellars. And there are plenty of "bad guys" to go around, too.
The characters in Otherland are compelling and unforgettable. But in terms of creative imagery, I have yet to read anything that compares to the "worlds" that Williams reveals in this saga. I know just two things: making Otherland into a movie series like Lord of the Rings would probably be prohibitively expensive, just to stay true to the special effects. But I believe that this expense would be more than offset by the explosive and enduring popularity that Otherland would enjoy once people people at-large began to notice it.
Tad Williams has a very easy-to-follow writing style that doesn't interfere with the story. I've found that through this rather "plain" writing, Williams (as well as other writers like Stephen King and John Grisham) can create interesting and intricate worlds that the reader can feel emboldened and confident to enter. And once you enter Otherland, you won't long forget it!
Otherland is set one hundred years in a future dominated by virtual technology. Instead of using screens, (Inter)net users simply "enter" areas that they want to explore. And in many areas, particularly in the gaming, tourist, and shopping zones, the experience closely imitates the feeling of being in a real, albeit sometimes bizarre other place. The problem, which leads to several mysteries and a Tolkienesque "quest", is that a number of children who were using the net have suddenly and inexplicably fallen into comas. When this tragedy touches upon the life of the main character, South African Renie Sulaweyo, she, along with her Bushman friend !Xabbu, embark on a harrowing journey of discovery and rescue. Along the way, other characters are introduced: a lost Englishman by the name of Paul Jonas, a precocious American boy named Orlando, and a mysterious but apparently benevolent old man called Mr. Sellars. And there are plenty of "bad guys" to go around, too.
The characters in Otherland are compelling and unforgettable. But in terms of creative imagery, I have yet to read anything that compares to the "worlds" that Williams reveals in this saga. I know just two things: making Otherland into a movie series like Lord of the Rings would probably be prohibitively expensive, just to stay true to the special effects. But I believe that this expense would be more than offset by the explosive and enduring popularity that Otherland would enjoy once people people at-large began to notice it.
Tad Williams has a very easy-to-follow writing style that doesn't interfere with the story. I've found that through this rather "plain" writing, Williams (as well as other writers like Stephen King and John Grisham) can create interesting and intricate worlds that the reader can feel emboldened and confident to enter. And once you enter Otherland, you won't long forget it!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Looking Earlier Musically During 1990-1996
Up until late 1990, I pretty much depended on what I heard off the radio to determine my favorite songs. Then, Led Zeppelin issued the first of their famous box sets. My local station 103.7-WRUF "Rock 104" played the entire box set from beginning to end. And I discovered what an incredibly versatile, creative band Led Zeppelin was! I heard tunes like Friends, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, and The Battle of Evermore for the first time, along with many others. Over the next couple of years, all of my top favorite songs at the time were actually old Zep tunes like Ramble On, Misty Mountain Hop, Dazed and Confused, No Quarter, and In the Evening. But my favorite of all was my long-standing all-time top favorite song When the Levee Breaks.
Having discovered the depth in quality of Led Zeppelin's works, I decided to seek out past albums from other groups I liked such as the Moody Blues, the Police, Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, U2, the Who, and REM. From 1991-1996, I bought many albums, and songs from them dominated my free listening time.
Why am I saying this at this time? I've arrived (going backwards one year at a time) at the year 1996 with my weekly "favorite songs of the year" reviews. Except for the most exceptional "older" songs that I liked during any particular year (from old album purchases), instead I'm going to concentrate on songs that were currently popular which I heard off the radio. So, for example, I won't include, during the span from 1991-96, any of the myriad wonderful Moody Blues songs that I became enamored with (but I may sometime in the future write about this great band).
Next week resumes my weekly review of my favorite songs from the past, going back one year at a time (picking back up at 1996).
P.S. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Having discovered the depth in quality of Led Zeppelin's works, I decided to seek out past albums from other groups I liked such as the Moody Blues, the Police, Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, U2, the Who, and REM. From 1991-1996, I bought many albums, and songs from them dominated my free listening time.
Why am I saying this at this time? I've arrived (going backwards one year at a time) at the year 1996 with my weekly "favorite songs of the year" reviews. Except for the most exceptional "older" songs that I liked during any particular year (from old album purchases), instead I'm going to concentrate on songs that were currently popular which I heard off the radio. So, for example, I won't include, during the span from 1991-96, any of the myriad wonderful Moody Blues songs that I became enamored with (but I may sometime in the future write about this great band).
Next week resumes my weekly review of my favorite songs from the past, going back one year at a time (picking back up at 1996).
P.S. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
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