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I’m A Bad Boss? Blame My Dad

This business week article I’m A Bad Boss? Blame My Dad says that workplace dramas eat up 20-50% of employees’ time!

Although I’m not sure the analogy to family dynamics is the way to go, I think paying more attention to relationships at work is important, as the article says it’s an increasingly important factor of why employees stay or leave or get fired: “corporations become ever more cognizant that talented employees quit bosses, not companies, and that CEOs often get hired for their skills — and fired for their personalities.”

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‘Laser vision’ offers new insights

There’s an interesting discussion on Slashdot about this article, Laser vision offers new insights. This technology could revolutionize how we use computers. From what I read, it makes wearable computers much more of a reality. You can see the computer screen (or any other display) hanging in the air in front of you. There are a LOT of science fiction stories that use that technology.

Speaking of wearable technology, I think Peter Hamilton is one of the best science fiction authors when it comes to imagining how biotech might change our lives. There’s a quote from one of the reviewers on Amazon that says I “wish I lived in Hamilton’s imagination.” Sometimes you really feel that when you are reading his books.

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Electronic Textbooks

Yahoo! News – Short on Books, Texas School Uses Laptops. There’s a school in Texas that plans to hand out laptops with electronic copies of all the textbooks (plus 2000 other books) to every 5th and 6th grader. I think this is great! I always wanted electronic copies of my textbooks for several reasons:
– It would weigh a lot less. Imagine being able to cart around all 5-10 textbooks and all your reference material in a laptop that weighs 2-10 pounds! You’d no longer be tied to the library nor your dorm room. (And in this case we won’t be hurting the backs of 10 year olds.)
– You can take notes right on the book.
– You can search both your notes and the books, extremely easily.
I hope more schools and universities follow this trend!

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The New York Times: Libraries Wired, and Reborn

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Downsize This! by Michael Moore

At the recommendation of a friend, I read “Downsize This!” by Michael Moore. I found it a funny and provocative book about the state of business and politics in America. Be warned! – Nobody will be able to read this book without being offended by something. At the same time, nobody will be able to read this book without finding at least one issue that they think is important. If even half the facts in the book are true (and Moore says they all are), then there are a lot of things wrong in America right now. My favorite chapters were the ones on corporate welfare (he tells about how many millions of dollars in aid some large corporations receive from our government and how they repay our tax money by laying off people) and the ones on loyalty that a company does (or doesn’t) owe to the city or state that gave it tax breaks and incentives to do business there. He gives examples of companies that receive $100,000s in tax breaks from a city and turn around and move their plants to other cities.

I guarantee that something in the book will make you stop and think. Something else in the book will probably upset you too. It’s a comedy – mostly satiric – but with a point.

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CNN.com – Delivered meals gaining popularity – Apr 20, 2004

CNN.com – Delivered?meals gaining popularity – Apr 20, 2004

The idea is extremely appealing. Every morning a cooler with three home cooked meals and a snack are delivered to your doorstep. The entire day’s worth of food fit your diet plan, so as long as you stick to the food in the cooler, which is supposedly fresh and tasty, you’ll meet your weight and fitness goals.

That said, in order to benefit from a service like this, you must live in one of a few US cities (Seattle, Los Angeles and New York were listed in the article) and you must be willing to shell out $35-40/day.

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Persuader

If you’re looking for that thriller to curl up with by the pool, then I would suggest Lee Child’s Persuader. Although it’s what I call a “guy’s book” or a “guy’s movie”, meaning that the protagonist single handedly manages to fight his way through everything, it was a good book. The plot had some good twists, lots of suspense, the violence wasn’t too graphic or gratuitous and the characters were well done. One of those books that you can’t put down and you wonder how in the world it got to be 2am, but not something that will tax your brain too much if you’re just looking to be entertained.
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Sunshine

I’m not a big vampire fan, but I am a big Robin McKinley fan, so I read her new book Sunshine, and I really enjoyed it. She tackled vampires from a whole new perspective. The setting is the near future in an alternate reality. The reality is pretty close to ours but vampires, werewolves and demons exist as well as half blood humans with magic. Humans, as we know them, are fighting the other races but the real war is passed and it’s kind of in the background when this story starts. The vampires are the real bad guys and they plan to take over the world.

Robin McKinley does a good job of developing the main character, Sunshine, a baker who works in a coffee shop, and the protagonist, who may or may not be a good vampire, if something like that can exist.

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French Quarter Festival in New Orleans!

We just got back from the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans. Although there were way too many people this year, we had a great time. Good music, good food and good company. We stayed at the Sheraton were we got a great deal from Hotwire. We ate lots and lots of yummy food. (Just don’t try to get vegetables in New Orleans!) We started out with dinner at the Red Fish Grill (we had to return another day to try the double chocolate bread pudding, yum!), had hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s, had a muffeletta from the Central Grocer (We brought home some of their olive salad so we can have muffelettas at home too), crayfish at Frankie and Johnys (their poboys were enormous!), jumbalaya and poboys at the world famous Mother’s (great bloody marys!), brunch at Commander’s Palace and oysters at Acme Oyster House. I’ve left out a few that didn’t live up to New Orleans standards.

When we weren’t eating we managed to squeeze in some music (although I was disappointed that Rockin’ Dopsie Jr played less Zydeco than usual and the Iguanas were out of town), wander around the French Quarter and take a riverboat tour of the last battlesite of the War of 1812 where 2,000 men were massaquered in less than 30 minutes.