This is easily the most disappointing phone card I've ever used. I think it lasted 20 minutes.

Vague work descriptions never serve any manager.

People who actually want to work find them frustrating, because it is so difficult to actually achieve their goal.

People who don't want to work love them, because they can do nothing but can still argue that they achieved their goal.

Bottom line: The firmer the work description, the better off all team members are.

My worldview, is, apparently, this.

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative 81% Postmodernist 56% Modernist 50% Existentialist 44% Materialist 44% Romanticist 25% Fundamentalist 25% Idealist 19% What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

Back in January, I saw a blog post that said:

Outrageous!
"Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time"

Is this real? I'm shocked! Is this even allowed?

I'm having trouble expressing just how wrong this is. It's a violation of freedom... it crosses a line. First smoking, but what next? Obesity? Disease? Disability? Genetic predisposition or family history of health problems? Go watch Gattaca. Be scared.

This is ridiculous. Smoking is a choice, whereas disease, disability, etc. is not. Obesity's a grey area.

In fact, basing hiring practices on choices under a person's control like smoking is a step in the right direction. What else do we use to decide who should be rich? Intelligence? Looks? Natural skills & aptitudes? Who your parents are? None of these things are choices. Scream about Gattaca all you want; the fact is, genetics decides our lives already.

So, a high school installed some solar cells.

http://www.blinddrop.com/chs_solar/

They raised $47,000 to do it. It will generate 3.3 kW.

3.3 kW * $0.06/kwh (a typical power price) * 12 h of sunlight a day * 365 days/year = $867.24 per year in power savings.

Which means it will take 54 years for these panels to pay for themselves. I’m guessing the panels’ life span is not more than 15 years. In fact, power prices will have to go up to $0.22/kWh before these cells pay for themselves. And not allowing any money for maintenance or repair.

Even if you’re into green power, solar is not the way to do it.

I'm sorry I'm so late to post. I'm going to make a quick rant about Office Christmas Parties, and then zoom right into the new year.

I have never been to an event so clearly designed to encourage greed than my office gift exchange. This is the popular event where everyone brings a gift, then we select gifts one by one. The 'entertaining' catch is that you can steal from someone else instead of choosing a new gift instead. Remember that none of the gifts are opened until the end, so you don't actually know what you're getting.

This resulted in an almost endless train of people stealing from one another, because the few 'best-looking' ones were constantly in demand, so they kept exchanging hands as new people stole it. And once you lost your present, you could steal from someone else, so it would happen like this:

A steals from B
B steals from C
C goes and gets a new one.
Now it's D's turn, who steals from C.
C steals his present back from B.
B steals his back from A.
A steals from D.
D swears revenge in future rounds.

This went on for 2 hours. These were not low-level clerks doing this either. Some of these were senior staff - Visionary leaders of my company, who have the grace and intelligence to guide us all into the future. Squabbling over $20 gifts like 2-year-olds.

To their credit, my direct superiors all just took a gift from the damn tree. They get my respect and my thanks.

Have you ever had Navan cognac? It is incredible.

That is all.