dream on a bicycle
I've been absolutely exhausted all day. I don't know why - got the usual amount of sleep. Didn't really do much of anything over the weekend.
I am pretty stressed out, worrying about work, and its future, housing, and its future, and the future, and my place in it. All very stressful. Plus, there's the CFA hanging over my head, constantly nagging me, like a mother standing at the top (or bottom) of the stairs, wagging one finger while her other hand rests on her hip, telling me there's all sorts of things that I should be doing right now.
A quick list of things to do on any given day:
-work (10 to 12 hours)
-look for houses (a high intensity activity in this market)
-study for the cfa
-worry about the future
It's a busy schedule, to be sure.

I had the weirdest dream last night. I think I only remember it because it was the last dream of the evening - the dream sequence that kept playing out in my head, intermittently, while I smacked the snooze button through my normal morning routine.
The dream started with me on a bike, and a perpetual mud-made cliff opening up below me. Hopping a kick-ass dirt bike from one rolling mud sludge hill to the next, the drop never ending, the bottom never seen. It was kind of like skiing, only everything was brown, and I was crouched over a bike frame, instead of skis. Luckily, I don't think I wiped out, as I tend to do on the slopes when I try to ski.
The cliffs were strangely replaced by a classroom at some point - the kind of ampitheater-ish classroom you get in large college lecture places - well appointed, tiered seating, with the swivel chairs attached to the rows of table space.
I was still on the bike, and there were occasional people. It turns out that I was going through some sort of challenge, or dare, or personal attempt at some sort of twisted statement; and I was living on a bike, not just riding it. I went through a number of strange scenarios, like trying to hop into bed (and out of bed) while staying on the bike. And going to class, and up stairs, and in the elevator --- all while staying on the bike.
Needless to say, I went out and bought a bicycle this afternoon. I was a little suprised, after the images in my head, how fragile, and thin, the frame on my new bike seems to be. I'm looking forward to riding it to work in the mornings.

- posted by Jay @ 7:31 PM

 
getting off the metro tonight, I was standing on the corner, waiting to cross the road, dreaming up the chorus to a song that went something like "So, pull out your phone, and make that call. Everbody, reach out and touch someone..."

Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the imagery.

- posted by Jay @ 7:38 PM

 
From Washington Post's "Memoirs Critizes Bush 9/11 Response" (3/21/2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13607-2004Mar21_2.html

"Wolfowitz, in a telephone interview last night, cited statements by CIA Director George J. Tenet and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell affirming that Iraq once trained al Qaeda operatives in bomb making and document forgery. "

Didn't the US fund al Qaeda training at one point? Weren't al Qaeda members part of the Mujahaddin?

- posted by Jay @ 9:56 AM

 
I'm sitting at work, trying to figure out how to join a table to itself at least six times, with different criteria each time, and outer joins between all the tables -- and I realize that there's not much else going on.

eyesight's definitely going - must be all the halogens.

- posted by Jay @ 3:57 PM

 
Thomas Friedman's got it right, but...
Friedman's definitely got the international/new global order game down. Just check out his latest articles --
Origin of Species in NYT, march 14 (registration required for link)

The Great Indian Dream from March 11

He's basically saying that the global economy is here, and it's here to stay. The new world has created two different societies (I always wonder how he's able to see a quick and easy duality in all things - have you read Lexus and the Olive Tree? Are there really only two things that can happen, or two ways to look at the world?) -- the societies that embrace change, and those that oppose it. In this case, he compares the Indian Software company InfoSys to the AlQaeda terrorist network.
As usual, the key determinants of which side you fall on are basic government programs, like education, strong judicial system, low corruption in the bureacracy -- and a supportive social structure, a community that supports innovation, equality, and the wholehearted pursuit of happiness.
I tend to agree with him on most of these points, and it's all rather compelling.

Here's some questions though-
on March 7, he wrote a piece called the Secret of Our Sauce in the same paper. I'm linking it here, but you have to pay to actually read the article.
To paraphrase the ideas - Freidman basically said that the US shouldn't worry about outsourcing, since we've got the big things that are very necessary for growth:
-Innovation
-Education (one that supports creativity)
-Government and social support of change and innovation.

here's the but:

-Innovation.
I think the US is losing its innovative edge in the world. I think the bubble scared the day lights out of risk takers. I think people are so worried about paying the bills that they can't conceive of going off and starting new companies or doing something different. I think one of the reasons there was so much innovation during the booms was not only because the money was flowing and funding was available -- it was also because people felt secure that they could always go back to a 9 to 5 job somewhere and make as much or more money than they were before they went off to do their stupid idea. this is a big deal. From Linda Tischler's "Awaiting the Prodigal Economy" in April's Fast Company --
"Satyam Cherukuri is CEO of Sarnoff Corp.,the Princeton, New jersey based innovation R&D house. Three years ago, Cherukuri says, his commercial business was driven by American and European customers. Now companies in the Far East are far outstripping their Western counterparts in innovation spending. 'They have shown us that they're more forward-looking', he says."
Maybe the rest of the world has learned the can-do American spirit from growing up watching our tv and movies,and eating all those big macs.

-Education
I don't have a link to the article ('cause I'm getting tired of writing), but there was a piece in the post last week where someone basically said that the No Child Left Behind Act makes schools ignore the middling and good students in favor of helping the poor students (academic, not economic) get a passing grade. She also pointed out that creativity and any chance to foster self-expression, individualism or free thought are being squeezed out of our public schools. Where does that put the US?

-As for the social environment - We do still enjoy more freedom than almost any other place on Earth. The pendulum does seem to be swinging, though - with more and more activist and attention focused on limiting our neighbor's freedoms, rather than expanding our collective abilities. Look at the gay marriage issue. Or abortion. Or security, for christ's sake.

I don't have an answer. I don't think you can regulate the outsourcing away. I do think that companies, at some point, will realize there are some benefits to having your employees in the US, and there'll be a swing back to the States with some of these jobs, or they'll re-calibrate their models to include the job loss and realize there isn't as much of a cost savings in outsourcing as originally thought. At the same time, i don't know what you do with the job losers, whose numbers are growing every day.

My last thought, before signing off. I think we're developing (as a society) to the point where everyone will be their own company. There will be no more salary man in the future (and I mean near future). Whether you want to be a contractor/self-emloyed individual or not, the corporations are going to want it, and it's going to happen. I think it'll be a good thing, for everyone.

And here's one to chew on - look what is going on in our schools, just when a solid education is fast becoming the preeminent, and possibly only, thing an american will need to make it.
- posted by Jay @ 4:10 PM

 
You'll notice that there's been no updates between the 11th and 17th. lots of ideas floating through the ether between my head and the keyboard, but nothing's had the time, or the energy, to stick. maybe I'll have time, after all this data-entry, to get down some nifty ideas.
stay tuned.
- posted by Jay @ 11:32 AM

 
Data Entry, level 1
I've been spending the last couple of days doing nothing but data entry, and then running reports to verify and reveal what I've been data entering. Amazing what one will do for a pay check.
Not that I'm complaining, or anything. Getting paid on an hourly basis puts a whole new perspective on one's view of the workday, and the inner corporate politics.
I am suprised, though, that this job (or at least this task) hasn't been out-sourced to India.
If I was half the entrepreneur that I pretend to be, I'd figure out how to get a temp in here to do my work and stay home, living fat off the margin.
how's that for an idea?

- posted by Jay @ 11:30 AM

 
First post. When I started this blog (yesterday) I thought I'd have all this time to write stuff in here, update and screw around with the template, and make a generally ultra cool blog space.
I have, of course, had this idea before, and it's never worked out all that well. I don't know why - maybe it has something to do with the consistency thing. I definitely have enough to say. Maybe it's the lack of discipline?
Curious.
There's a good entry coming up on out-sourcing. At least, I feel one in me. and environmentalism. Actually, screw it - here's a great article about Patrick Moore:

Eco-Traitor

Basically, someone's come along (and I don't think he's first, just high-lighted in this article) and said -- "look, dudes, there's 6 billion people in the world, and more coming every day. They've got to eat. They need a place to live, and clothes. And nintendo...
The extreme radicalism of environmentalism cannot continue and we need someone to vouch for the solid middle path between bad corporate greedy things that are done to the environment and killing everyone to make the world a better place."

At least, that's the sense that I got from the article. Makes sense, too. I was just e-mailing S over the last couple of days about environmentalism and who the enemy is that we're (assuming you're into the environmental thing) fighting against. Her position is that we're fighting ourselves, and our poor decisions. Maybe I'm not the only one having trouble growing up and showing some discipline.

Here's Patrick Moore's consulting web-site: greenspirit.com

Check it out.

- posted by Jay @ 4:03 PM