Posted in January 16, 2010 ¬ 12:15 amh.Kevin
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When my wife and I went out to breakfast, the waitress asked if we were on our honeymoon. This was a reasonable question as we were eating breakfast in Niagara Falls, Canada which which attracts honeymooners the way a bus accident attracts personal injury lawyers. Pretty much everybody you meet in Niagara Falls — including bus drivers, personal injury lawyers and marriage counselors — is also a honeymooner. If honeymooners were terrorists, Niagara Falls would be the Canadian Falujah.
To complete the illusion that we were inhabitants of that happy space between the wedding ceremony and the first serious fight, we were sitting side-by-side in the restaurant booth instead of across the table.
“Aren’t you sweet,” the waitress said.
Maybe.
The truth is, I’ve come to realize that the real work of dating is just beginning for me. My wife and I have spent more than two decades as co-parents of two boys. I wouldn’t say that we never went on dates during those years. My wife might, but I wouldn’t. (Full Text)
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Notes:
Posted in January 9, 2010 ¬ 12:15 amh.Kevin
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Really.
It was my fault. If I didn’t want to answer highly technical questions from random strangers, I shouldn’t have worn my red fleece vest to the home improvement center. The disaster that happened the day I wore a white shirt and black tie to the Buy More electronics emporium should have been a clue, but maybe I’m a slow learner.
In my defense, it was cold on the morning I went to the home improvement center and my vest is warm and comfortable. It’s also — and I don’t want to underestimate the role this played in the deception that followed — red.
“I’m hanging a flat screen TV. Can you tell me what kind of hardware to use?”
Was he asking me? Was a total stranger really asking me a question about home improvement? (Full Text)
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Notes:
- Thanks to Tim King for helping me correct an embarassing typo in the full text version of Childhood Games. You can find Tim’s work on-line at http://www.jtimothyking.com/
- Thanks, too, to Sam (@TheMoneyGeek) on Twitter for pointing people to Childhood games. Sam is a terrific financial adviser and you can learn more about his services at http://www.ydfs.com/
- Finally, thanks to listener Gus for a very encouraging letter!
Posted in January 2, 2010 ¬ 12:15 amh.Kevin
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If you have a job, you probably have a job description. This allows your manager to keep you centered on the tasks which are vital to maintaining a mission-centric focus for your forward-looking organization. It is also useful when your manager wants to evaluate you, discipline you, or assign you a completely random task which is justified by the phrase “additional duties as required.” (Kind of like TV game shows where the points are tripled in the last round making all of the rounds that come before mere window dressing.)
We need job descriptions, though, because modern jobs are so complex. In the early days of humanity, the typical job description for a hunter/gatherer would have read:
- Hunt
- Gather
Unless, of course, the human resources cave had gotten wind of the fact that the hunter/gatherer group wasn’t following tribe policy in regards to using fully-formed, ISO 9000-compliant job descriptions. Then the manager over the hunter/gatherers would have had to get out his tablet and chisel and come up with something a little more robust. (Full Text)
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Posted in December 26, 2009 ¬ 12:15 amh.Kevin
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I remember running across the schoolyard; carefree and laughing as I engaged in the ritualized combat of games like “Tag,” “Capture the Flag,” and “Avoid the Bullies.” Well, actually, they weren’t that carefree. In fact, I remember spending a lot of time being out and even more time trying to wipe grass stains off my jeans.
As a child, I had all of the grace of a hippopotamus in tap shoes and ran with the awkward lope of a three-legged jackrabbit. As an adult, I no longer have to play schoolyard games. Nobody in the office ever tries to get up a vigorous game of “Red Rover”, “Four Square” or even “Cat’s Cradle.” Instead we play “Look Busy the Boss is Coming”, “March Madness Pool” and “Hot Potato” with the Jenkins’ contract substituting for the traditional beanbag. (Full Text)
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Notes:
