Forty days of Lent
Are climaxed here today
Our risen Lord lives
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Motivation
I've been awful busy lately or at least the days seem to have too few hours. Besides working 12 hour days and six days a week we got a new puppy after the disastrous Tillie affair. His name is Henry and he is a mini Dachshund. It's been a long time since we had a puppy and it's easy to forget how much more work puppies are compared to dogs. On top of the puppy the in-laws moved in a week ago for an indefinite stay. I'm glad we can help them out when they need a place to stay but it puts a strain on our privacy and routines.
So what does the above have to do with motivation. Well Henry and the in-laws were motivated by love but what of work. I like to think my motivation is solely dedication but I'm sure there is an element of wanting to acquire wealth. Now some might call this greed but I think greed is a desire to put accumulation of money ahead of all other concerns. Greed also has an element of envy and excessiveness involved.
So what has been driving advocates in Washington and states like Wisconsin and Ohio over the past couple of weeks. In Ohio and Wisconsin opponents of austerity measures have been calling out the Governors as being vengeful. They cite their rollbacks of public sector unions bargaining powers as payback for past political involvement. In Washington we hear much the same as Democrats decry attempts to cut certain funding as political payback. I won't deny that payback may have some roll but I think priorities are an equal partner in the cut backs. Many of the programs targeted have never been a priority for the Republicans but could be overlooked when the economy was humming along.
So what does the above have to do with motivation. Well Henry and the in-laws were motivated by love but what of work. I like to think my motivation is solely dedication but I'm sure there is an element of wanting to acquire wealth. Now some might call this greed but I think greed is a desire to put accumulation of money ahead of all other concerns. Greed also has an element of envy and excessiveness involved.
So what has been driving advocates in Washington and states like Wisconsin and Ohio over the past couple of weeks. In Ohio and Wisconsin opponents of austerity measures have been calling out the Governors as being vengeful. They cite their rollbacks of public sector unions bargaining powers as payback for past political involvement. In Washington we hear much the same as Democrats decry attempts to cut certain funding as political payback. I won't deny that payback may have some roll but I think priorities are an equal partner in the cut backs. Many of the programs targeted have never been a priority for the Republicans but could be overlooked when the economy was humming along.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Godzilla
Life doesn't always imitate art. In the old 50s-60s Japanese Godzilla movies the creature comes up out of the sea to reek terror on the people of Japan. In the movies the people run screaming and shouting, pushing each other what ever it took to reach safety.
Compare this with their reaction to to the earthquake and tsunami. While there was fear the people tended to act in an orderly manner. No stories of people looting or committing acts of violence on each other.
Maybe this is what made the Godzilla movies that we laughed at scary to the Japanese, the loss of control of emotions and decorum. The Japanese have had their Godzilla experience and reacted admirably.
Compare this with their reaction to to the earthquake and tsunami. While there was fear the people tended to act in an orderly manner. No stories of people looting or committing acts of violence on each other.
Maybe this is what made the Godzilla movies that we laughed at scary to the Japanese, the loss of control of emotions and decorum. The Japanese have had their Godzilla experience and reacted admirably.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sorrow
Well that didn't last long. The person we got Tillie from didn't have permission to give the dogs away an called yesterday demanding the dog be given back. We wrestled with this through the afternoon and concluded that the right thing to do was to relinquish Tillie to her first owner. Who would have thought that after a week it could hurt so much.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Career builder
Career builder did a survey of how often people are late to work. They found over the last couple of years tardiness has dropped to 15% from 20% in 2008.
So what does this tell us it could be 2 things as I see it the article implied that people are wising up because of the recession. My thinking is that the perpetually late got laid off in far higher numbers and are not back in the work force yet.
One of the keys to keeping the boss happy is dependability. Most employers may act as though they care about their employees personally but for the most part what they care about is profitability.
This to me is the reason that employers whether public or private are at odds with unions.Unions don't tend to be about promoting the business they are about the workers and what they want.
It doesn't mean that employers and employees can't coexist it means that as an employee your worth to the company is based on how you can make it more profitable. An employee that can help the company run efficiently will generally be rewarded or the company will fail for lack of competent workers.
So what does this tell us it could be 2 things as I see it the article implied that people are wising up because of the recession. My thinking is that the perpetually late got laid off in far higher numbers and are not back in the work force yet.
One of the keys to keeping the boss happy is dependability. Most employers may act as though they care about their employees personally but for the most part what they care about is profitability.
This to me is the reason that employers whether public or private are at odds with unions.Unions don't tend to be about promoting the business they are about the workers and what they want.
It doesn't mean that employers and employees can't coexist it means that as an employee your worth to the company is based on how you can make it more profitable. An employee that can help the company run efficiently will generally be rewarded or the company will fail for lack of competent workers.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Tough questions
I wonder do we really know what it is that we want in life. After the economy collapsed in 2008 I had my hours cut at work and money was tight. I hoped for a new and vigorous economy and a renewal of overtime. While times were slow working sometimes 4 days a week and only 8 hours a day something I had never done before at least not for more than a week at a time I found new interests. Maybe new interests isn't quite right what I really found was the time to do the things I wanted. I exercised more, read more, found time to go hiking with my wife, found more time for family it was good. Now we are back to normal at work six days a week 10-12 hours a day. I got what wished for but I don't think I really knew what I wanted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
